


Stand by You

by Pikuna



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged engagement, Children, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Political Arrangement, Singing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:04:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5788033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to a harsh winter both kingdoms are weakend and need the help from each other to avoid increasing loss.<br/>But relations between Fairies and Goblins were always tense, so the Queens decided to strengthen the new alliance with the engagement of the young crown princess Marianne and the Bog prince. The engagement and alliance persist until the eighteen birthday of princess Marianne, where she will decide if she want to marry the Bog prince or not.</p><p>Little AU were Marianne and Bog meet each other as child/teenager. Lots of children shenanigans and fluff, but also dealing with the dark sides of life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I totaly have a thing for AUs where Bog and Marianne meet much earlier in life, become friends and then lovers. xD  
> I normaly headcanon the age difference between them around 12 years, but for this I choose 8, because otherwhise it would be a bit awkward.  
> The title for this story comes from the correspondent [song from Rachel Platten](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w380g8LkxU) and is also the title song for it.  
> This story is inspired by a comment from [moonlit_wings](http://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlit_wings).

Bog wondered what this was all about. He stood on the left side of his father's throne, while his mother Griselda was on the right. The Cedar King himself rose from his seat and gazed down to the royal Fairy couple. It was a very rare event to see King Dagda and Queen Farica in the Dark Forest, especially at a time like this. The last winter was one of the severest in the past hundred years, which was very apparent. Many Goblins didn't survive the season, just as many animals didn't which were alimental and source for different materials. It was the same for the flora, many trees were dead now and new seeds didn't sprout in the forest. On the long run the kingdom would get into a stagnation of manpower, food and materials. Bog could only imagine how bad it was for the Light Fields. Their inhabitants weren't as steady as the Goblins and they depended much more on crops than anything else.

The Cedar King stepped down the stairs from his throne to meet the Fairies. "Dagda, Farica! To what do we owe the honor of yer visit?" He bowed just enough that it was respectful for another monarch and he smiled at them, showing his teeth. It was just hard to say if it was sincere or mocking. Even when the Goblin King didn't stand on the stairs anymore, he still towered more than two heads over the Fairies. His brown plates of natural armor -which were indeed more tree bark than chitin - shifted and his brown-green dragonfly wings twitched in expectation for an answer.

"To my regret, it's a necessity that leads us here Cedar." The Fairy King answered with a wary glint in his eyes. He wore a green armor and his short light brown hair was hold back by a crown.

"Hmmm, A wonder what this necessity could be, that ye take this long and dangerous journey to ma castle." Cedar's tone was pretended astonishment and he stroked his short beard, which was much more wild than the trimmed one of the Fairy King. And it was made out of green leaves from conifers, the same leaves that also sprout from his scalp.

Before Dagda could answer, his wife interfered. "Cedar King, I think it's safe to say that both our kingdoms have suffered greatly from the last winter. Both lands have lost many good souls and resources. It's our responsibility to find a way, _any_ way, to make sure that our people won't suffer from this in the long run, wouldn't you agree?"

Cedar let his mockery drop and looked with a serious expression at the Fairy Queen. Bog had already seen her a few times in the castle and every time he had the feeling that the summer itself would walk through the dark corridors of his home. Her short, but elegant blonde hair was like the sun, her bright yellow dress just underlined it and her azurblue wings were like the sky. Right now, a pair of green-blue eyes looked at his father with calm earnestness.

"Aye. That's our duty as rulers." A grim mien laid on his face, while he looked up to the skylight, as if he could see the suffering from his kingdom through it. Then he looked back. "So, A assume that you wanna present me a solution for this problem?"

Farica looked over her shoulder to her husband, who gave her a firm nod. She took a deep breath and turned back to Cedar.

"We want to offer you an alliance."

Bewilderment was clearly visible in the blue-grey eyes of the Goblin King. Bog was not less confused and looked to his mother. The Troll-Gobliness with the red, fuzzy hair and green leaf-dress didn't seem to be that surprised by this proposal and looked rather expectant to her mate.

"I'm sure that we can help both our people much better, when we declare a pact of peace and cooperation. No one would need to fear to be attacked from the other and whenever help is needed when can lend a hand to each other. Furthermore we can try to trade goods that are short in either land and we would be more than willing to form contacts for you to further kingdoms." Farica ended her explanation and now looked also expectant to the Cedar King. It seemed it took him some seconds to process the words from the Fairy Queen. His grip on the staff in his hand shifted a bit and he tipped with one clawed finger against his chin, before he turned to the Fairy King with a mocking smile.

"Ye know, Dagda, this sounds oddly familiar to me. How long did it take for yer wife to talk ye into this?"

"These are different circumsta-" Dagda tried to defend himself, but Cedar just kept talking, as if he wouldn't hear him.

"A think I remember to suggest such an alliance to yer father years ago. He almost declared a war, because A came to his kingdom. Ye didn't seem fond of the idea either, since A never received an answer from my letter to ye." While he spoke Cedar walked back and forth in front of the Fairies. "No offense to yer honest proposal Queen Farica," He nodded respectful to her, before he looked back to her husband. "But A think it's very hypocritical from ye Fairies to come to us Goblins _now_ and only ask for an alliance, because it doesn't look so good for ye, when A already did this _twice_ and got rejected every time." He had stepped closer to Dagda and held two fingers angrily up in front of Dagda's face, who tried cover his fear with anger on his own.

"Listen Cedar, I still don't like the idea of an alliance with you uncivilized beasts. But I'm willing to put my personal opinions aside for the benefit of my people and hope that you are able to cooperate with us!"

"Dagda!" Farica was shocked by her husband's outburst and gripped his upper arm to scold and calm him down, but the damage was done. It did take a lot to make his father angry and Bog had rarely witnessed such a savage snarl from him, but when it came to the Goblins of the forest he was in no joking mood as normaly. It made Bog tense up, since he expected a fight to start soon. Both Fairy and Goblin guards waited outside of the throne room, but they would be fast in when their rulers would call for them.

"How dare ye tae insult ma fowk? How _dare_ ye tae come into ma land an demand help when ye're so disrespectful?" Cedar growled at Dagda, his shoulder plates flaring and his wings buzzing in anger.

"Oh dear...." Bog heard his mother mumble and when he looked to her, she had her one arm supported by the other and leaned her head against the supported one. Shouldn't she try to calm down his father? If it went on like this there would be really a war in the end and no one could want that now.

"Please, Cedar King!" Farica stepped back into the conversation and tried to calm both kings down. "No one is demanding anything and I apologize for my husband's behave. I know that our royal houses always had some bad blood between us, but we should _start_ somewhere and try to talk like civilized people."

" _A'm_ not the one who throws with insults an threats around!" The Goblin King's rage was now also directed at the Queen and she winced at his roar.

Suddenly the conflict was interrupted by a piercing shriek. Bog had never heard such a shrill sound and he wasn't the only one who had to cover his ears with a painful expression. After the sound vanished the Goblins looked around confused.

"What was _that_?" his father asked, his anger dimmed by the shock of the sudden shriek.

Farica seemed to give him an apologetic smile, before she brought one of her legs a bit forward.

"Come on, sweety. Now you have to introduce yourself."

From behind her legs, former hidden by the Queen's wings, appeared the smallest Fairy that Bog had ever seen. Not that he had seen many Fairies besides the royal couple, they were already small for him - when one considered his size for his 13 years - and his father, but this one was just big enough to reach the Queen's hips. He assumed that it was a girl, since she wore a fuchsia colored dress and he knew that a dress was normally a garment for female Fairies. Similar to the Fairy King, she had brown and wild short hair, that got along very well with her amber eyes. Behind her back, Bog could get a glimpse of something purple. Were that her wings? They were so tiny, surely too small to use to fly.

"And who might ye be, young Lady?" The Cedar King had crouched down, to be more at eye level with the Fairy girl and his voice was much softer now. He didn't get an answer right away, since the girl seemed to eye him up, one hand holding the one from the Queen and the other one clenched to a fist, as if she prepared herself to punch the Goblin before her.

"I'm Princess Marianne from the Light Fields." she finally said, before she frowned at him. "And I'm not afraid of you!"

Bog raised a brow. For her size the little Fairy looked rather dangerous and more than ready to bite the head of his father of. His mother only chuckled at that and also his father seemed to be amused.

"Pleasure to meet ya, princess." he bowed his head slightly. "And ye do well not to be afraid of me, since there is no reason for it. But I must admit I'm quite terrified by yer strong voice."

The Cedar King knew how to handle children, since the threatening glint vanished from the young princess's eyes and instead a proud smile appeared on her face. "Very good." she said and crossed her arms in front of her.

With a chuckle he straightened again and looked to the parents. "Now A'm very curious why ye bought yer daughter to this meeting. Even A have to say that the Dark Forest isn't a good place for such a wee lass like her."

Princess Marianne pouted at that and Bog could hear her father mutter to her mother "See, I told you...", but the Fairy Queen just put on a sweet smile.

"Well, since it's obvious that the current monarchs have their...dissonance," she looked between Dagda and Cedar. "I thought that the next generation should start on a more friendly term. Maybe the Bog prince and Marianne could be...friends?" she finished with a little shrug.

" _What_?" exclaimed Bog and his father at the same time.

"I think that is a wonderful idea." Griselda spoke the first time aloud since the Fairies arrived and clasped her hands together.

" _Mother._ " Bog hissed. He didn't think a bit that this was a good idea. Making friends wasn't one of his biggest talents and he couldn't imagine that this little Fairy princess full of light would enjoy the company of someone dark and dangerous like him. A quick glance to his father showed him, that he looked rather deadpan at his mate, just as if he would accuse her for setting this up. Honestly, it wouldn't be untypical for her to do such things, especially since she had met the Fairy Queen several times in the past. Griselda seemed to catch his father's expression, too and just waved it away, so she could nag at him.

"You really could use one or two friends, my dear. It always makes me so sad to see you wander around alone and no one there to play with you." Her demanding tone had a honest sad edge on it, but Bog still grimaced.

"A'm too old for playmates, ma. Besides...A...A have friends." he hesitantly said. In slight anger about this answer, Griselda throw her arms in the air.

"Pah, _now_ you call that bunch of Goblin kids that follow you around your friends. Weak excuses young man." She starred at him with narrowed eyes.

Bog gritted his teeth. There was really no valid reason to at least try it and a simple _'I don't want to'_ would sound too childish. He looked to his father, seeking for help, but the grin over his son's misery was a very good indicator, that he would get none.

Suddenly the Fairy King cleared his throat to get the attention of the Goblins.

"Well, when the prince isn't so zealous, there is no need to force the poor boy." It was more than obvious, that he didn't want his daughter to be alone with him and Bog wanted to snarl. He was no _poor boy_. But then the princess herself spoke again.

"Maybe he is just too afraid of me?" She crossed her arms again and had a smug grin on her face.

"What?" Sometimes Bog hated this quirk he got from his father, but right now he didn't know what else to say, so befuddled was he. Did this wee girl just implied that he was afraid? Of _her_? He was more than double her size, had talons and was undoubtedly much stronger than her. And _he_ should be the one who is afraid?

The chuckles from his parents were very audible, which woke him up from his dumbfounded state and he frowned at the princess.

"Why should A be afraid of such a wee and fragile thing like ye?"

"Because I would beat you up, should you try to be mean to me." She countered it with a challenging smirk. Ohhh, so she wanted to play it _that_ way? Fine, he could get along with that.

"Tze, we shall see." With those words he flew away from his current position besides the throne and landed before the princess. When he stood before her, she flinched a step back. But as soon as she saw his smug grin, she stepped forward again, face in a frown and her fists at her hips. Bog's grin didn't falter and after a rather exaggerated bow he kneeled before the Fairy princess to be on eye level with her.

"If ye please, princess Marianne." He held his clawed hands towards her, the talons directed at her face. Much like she did with his father, the princess eyed the offered hand suspiciously. Their parents observed this spectacle rather bemused, while only the Fairy King seemed to be worried about his daughter.

In the end, the frown on Marianne's faced turned to a grin again and she curtsied in a very ridiculous manner.

"With pleasure, Bog Prince." She took his hand and he was so amazed by how much they dwarfed hers. And also what a strong grip she had, as if she wanted to squash his hand. He raised a brow at that, since it doesn't really hurt, but the reaction seemed to please the princess. Without any other word Bog straightened again and lead the way out of the throne room. It would be better, if they leave the adults alone, since they surely would discuss this possible alliance more and he couldn't imagine that it would be interesting for the girl.

"Be nice to each other." Farica called after them.

"And behave yourselves." Griselda demanded.

Both kids rolled with their eyes.

"Of course, mommy."

"Yes, mother."

They said simultaneously and left the room. Now Bog really hoped that she wouldn't start attacking his knees, as soon as they were alone. So far she didn't seem to be afraid of him, but maybe her reaction would change, when her parents wouldn't be around anymore. When he looked down he could see, that her face was rather excited now. Then the princess noticed that he looked at her and she craned her neck to face him. Bog already expected another frown or a challenging grin, but the smile she gave him was very joyful. At first he blinked in surprise, but then returned the smile.

Huh, maybe this afternoon won't be so awful as Bog feared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohman, I really enjoyed writing Cedar's character so far. There are some aspects of his personality that will show in future chapters, but I hope you could already get a good idea of him. Especially when it comes to his design. He looks mostly like Bog, besides the colors, the woodier exoskeleton, the conifer leaves as hair and the bigger/sturdier built.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this short, first chapter. Comments and Kudos are always appreciated. :3


	2. You did nothing wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, that it took me so long to update this story. Hopefully all the cute stuff will make up for it. :'D  
> The conversation between Bog and Marianne somehow became longer as I planned it, so the other stuff I planned for this chapter will be moved to chapter 3 and 4.  
> Thanks to magicalstranger13, who looked over the first part of the chapter and gave me some good tips. :3

Bog headed towards his chamber. There he could keep an eye on the princess and his mother could find them quickly, when the meeting was over. Normally it didn't took long to arrive there. But usually he hadn't a little Fairy on his coat-tails, that needed to run to keep up with his long steps and that didn't stop following him every time she saw a new Goblin. She would eye them, as whether to decide if they were a danger or not and because Bog feared she really would tackle one of them, he always went back and snatched or pushed her gently back on their trail before she could do anything.

"Seriously, princess. When ye go on like this, every Goblin in the castle will think ye wanna tear their heads off." he said a bit annoyed. Currently he had to hunch down a lot, so that he could take her by the shoulders and direct her to his room without any detours or stops.

"Good! They shouldn't think that I'm weak or so." Marianne said with a determinate frown on her face and crossed arms.

Bog had to snort. "A’m sure they will think twice about it, before they speak any ill about ye."

That earned him a satisfied hum, before the princess turned her head towards him. "But why do they look so different from you and your papa? Even your mommy is not like you."

He winced a bit at that. It had been just a matter of time until she would ask this question, but it baffled him a bit that she said, that the _others_ would look different. Normally it was phrased the other way around.

"Well, our kind varies in looks, depending on what species of Goblin we are. Most in this region look like ma mother or the guards. Ma father and A...we are rather unique."

"Wow, that is so cool!" the princess beamed in excitement. "We Fairies are totally boring and look all the same. The only thing that varies a bit is the hair and wings."

Surprised by this statement Bog raised an eye brow. And there he thought Fairies would like their similarity. Well, what did he know about Fairies in the first place? But it still astonished him, that she didn't show any distaste or fear regarding any Goblin she met so far. His parents and many other Goblins had always told him, that Fairies attached great importance to appearance, tidiness and dress style. Goblins were the total opposite of these things they valued so high, which was the cause for many ill-will between the two races. Flimflammed reasons that had cost many lives, but that was how the world worked. Maybe Bog really had met an oddity of a Fairy with the princess. After all, she was very aggressive, while he was told that her kind was more peaceful and craven.

Finally they arrived his room without seeing any other Goblin. After they entered it Bog let go of the Fairy princess and went to his desk to drop himself on the chair that stood in front of it. He propped his feet on the table, arms crossed in front of him and looked rather exhausted out of the little window that was above the desk. On the way here she had peppered him with questions about the different Goblin-subspecies, which he answered in the most simplest way possible for her. The little girl was really fascinated by the fact that besides the 'normal' Goblins -which had amphibian, lizard or troll traits-, there also existed Goblins with insect-, bird-, mammal- and even plant traits. After Bog evaded the repeating question from her, which traits he had, the princess had a lot of fun to imagine how a Fairy would look like, if you cross them with some of the animals in the Light Fields. Some of these imaginations had even amused him in a way.

"Ohhh, is that your bed? It's so big!"

Before the Goblin could turn around, the little Fairy already had climbed his bed and now jumped on it. He groaned slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, it's mah bed and it's so big because of mah size. Now stop bouncing around!"

The demanding growl in his voice startled the girl and she immediately stopped, even looked a bit frightened. But after some seconds she looked as aggressive as before, which he countered with a frown.

"You shouldn't growl like that, that's rude." 

Her snippy reproval just irritated Bog more. He jumped from the chair and pointed his long clawed finger at her.

"Listen, ye little-" but he couldn't finish his sentence, since she simply swatted his finger away.

"It's also not nice to point at people." the little Fairy just stated with a glare and the young Goblin had to keep himself together not to snap at her.

"And it's not nice to scramble on other people's beds!" he simply retorted. 

"You still could have asked more polite!"

They scowled at each other for a few moments, until Bog slumped back into the chair and looked to the window with a grunt. No way he would start arguing with a little Fairy princess. That was beneath his dignity. Slightly disappointed, that she turned out to be more annoying with her babbling and pushy attitude, he tapped his claws against his arms. Maybe her challenging behavior in the throne was just misinterpreted by him. Bog heard her moving on his bed again, but as long as she wouldn't start jumping again, he didn't care. There was silence for a while, until the Fairy spoke.

"Are you angry with me?" Her voice was wary, as was her face when he glanced to her. She sat on the edge of his bed, faced in his direction and when she noticed that he looked at her, the princess gave him a small apologetic smile. Slightly uncomfortable Bog shifted in his seat, unsure what to say.

"Uh...no, not really. Just...a bit annoyed."

That made the girl sigh and her whole figure slumped. 

"I'm sorry." 

When they had argued not a few minutes ago her voice was strong and loud. Now it was just a little sad whisper, which made Bog wince a little bit. He didn't like her pushy attitude, but he just learned that he didn't like this unhappy sight from her even more. 

"Ye...ye don't need to be. A may...have overreacted a bit. The bed wouldn't break from a wee thing like ye." he tried to cheer her up and to his relieve she indeed smiled again at his words.

"It's okay. You wouldn't be the first one who got annoyed by me. I'm not very 'well-behaved', as I'm called."  she explained, while she looked at her hands in her lap.

"Well, A'm not much better, as ye have pointed it out." Bog said with a slight grin and she chuckled at that. "But do ye get called that often?" He didn't know what Fairies would call well-behaved and what rude, only that she was so far very irritating for him. However she seemed to be rueful about her behavior and he wondered if this was the norm from her or just something to cope her hidden fear of the Goblins.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, even when it's for other reasons. I'm normally not so rude." She knit her brows. "At least I think that I'm not."

Bog tilted his head in slight confusion and was torn between two questions, until he decided with which he wanted to start. "And why do ye act like that now? Are ye afraid of us Goblins?"

"I'm NOT afraid!" the Fairy stated firmly. He had to grin, since this exchange was similar to the one they had in the throne room and he also saw that glint in her eyes she had before.

"Well, than ye aren't afraid." he waved with his hand nonchalant. "But was is yer reason then?"

She gave him a determined look before speaking. "Mommy said that you Goblins are a really wild, but nice bunch and that you don't like dainty things. So I thought when I act rough, you would like me and maybe become my friends."

Surprise was clearly written on the Goblin prince's face and he blinked a few times, before he shook his head. "Well, A told ye already that yer plan failed, but why on earth do ye want to have Goblins as friends? Ye surely have a bunch of other Fairy kids at yer fields who would love to play with ye."

The Fairy mad a sad face and shook her head. "I wish I would have some friends. But the other kids don't like me. They say I'm weird."

Bog raised an eyebrow at that and leaned a bit forward. "How come?"

When no answer came right away and he saw that she fumbled with her hands it occurred to him, that the question could have made her uncomfortable. So he added quickly: "Only if ye want to tell me."

A small, but thankful nod was made by her, before she took a deep breath and started talking. 

"I don't really know what I do wrong. The girls always play with their dolls or make flower-crowns. It's nice, but I want to play catch and hide or go on adventures and fight evil monsters!" She waved her little fist and Bog grinned at that. "Nobody ever wants to do those things with me. The boys don't want to play with a girl and the girls say they would just get dirty." Her face changed into a scowl as she continued. "I have tried to talk with them, but they were so stupid and mean, so I ended up kicking dirt on the girl's dresses and punched one of the boys." The prince made an impressed hum, which made her smile proud a little bit. But then she frowned again. "After that I decided to go on an adventure alone, without telling my parents or anybody else. Wanted to go into the Dark Forest, but a guard found me before I could reach it. I was still dirty and full of scratches. Both mommy and daddy weren't happy about it. That's when the grownups call me  _unmannerly._ And when I tried to apologize to the other kids they ran away from me. Still do that."

Silence followed the explanation. Bog also couldn't see what she did wrong. Of course it was very dangerous for a Fairy to go into the Dark Forest, especially such a young one, but why the other Fairy children treated her like that, was something he couldn't understand.

"Those Fairy kids are the ones who are weird. What does it matter, that ye are a girl? Playing catch and hide or go exploring is always cool. They don't seem to know how to have some good fun time."

At first the princess looked dumbfounded at the Goblin, before a big smile spread on her face.

"Right? I think the boys were just scared, so they said that." she said with a giggle.

Bog had to snort.  "Well, maybe going into the Dark Forest on yer own is really not a good idea."

"I had a stick with me to defend myself." she tried to defend her point, but it only made him chuckle now.

"A'm very sure that would have helped ye, especially when a group of giant spiders would have attacked ye."

With his hands Bog imitated the walking motion of a spider. At the imagination of a much bigger creature walking towards her like that the princess gulped, which made him smirk. Maybe she was fierce, but still had reason to be afraid of something that she never could beat. It was not always a bad thing to be afraid, it could save your life.

He leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. "Still A can't see what ye did wrong. A would also have punched those idiots, if they were mean to me. Ye have yer right to defend yerself and yer honor."

An affirmative nod was followed by a uncertain shrug from the Fairy girl. "I have asked what I did wrong exactly. But daddy just says that I'm an _unique_ girl and that I should try to be more...normal." she sighed very deeply. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the odd one out, that I'm too...different to be with the other kids."

Seconds of silence followed those words. A well-known, stabbing pain went through Bog's body and without thinking he whispered "A know that feeling."

A pair of bright brown eyes looked curious at him and he cleared his throat nervously. He hadn't wanted to voice out this thought and never had spoken about it with somebody. His parents knew that he had a hard time, since his father had once mentioned he went trough something similar, but Bog never had the urge to actually talk about it with him. Now, with this little Fairy princess, who also had no friends in her kind, he felt actually safe to word out what bothered him.

Her eyes were still locked onto him and waited patiently for him to continue. He was sure she would accept it, should he refuse to explain what he meant and it actually made it easier for him to start speaking, even when it was hesitantly.

"Ye see, as ye have noticed mah father and A look different from the other Goblins. It's normally easy to tell what kind of Goblin ye are, but with us it's different. We are a weird, indefinable mix of different Goblins, so the others are rather wary of us. When A was yer age...well, the other Goblin kids avoided me. At first A thought they were afraid of me in a way or better said of mah father being the king. But one day A followed them and saw...how they derided me." His eyes went down to the floor and slipped a bit down in the chair, his arms still crossed, but in a far more defensive pose. "They made fun of mah rather gangly statue, mah hideous face, my weird wings..." he took a deep breath. "And on top of that they think that A'm such a weak Goblin, because A tended to always hang around at father's side."  His voice became more quiet at the end and he rubbed at his face, as if he wanted to make the memories go away. Seeing and hearing what the other Goblin kids actually thought about him had hurt more than any physically harm ever could do.

"Did you teach them a lesson? That are no nice things to say after all." The girl looked expectantly at him. A bit of shame washed over Bog, since his answer was the negative.

"Ah, no...A didn't. Preferred to simply stay away from them." he mumbled and looked to the site. Never Bog had considered it to confront the other Goblins. What use would that have been, they were right after all. He was weird and hideous and even when his self-esteem had been demolished that day he never made any attempts to fix it. Suddenly he felt admiration for the little Fairy girl. It hadn't helped her situation, made it even worse, but she still hadn't put up with the mean words of the other Fairy kids and had stand her ground. And what did he, a Goblin who is supposed to be a deadly predator? Hiding like a coward.

So deeply caught in his sad musing, Bog didn't notice how the Fairy princess went to him and laid her hand on one of his knees. A bit startled he looked down at her.

"That's okay. I'm sure they were too stupid anyway to get it." She patted his knee sympathetic and glanced with a bright smile up to him. "And I have to say that Goblins look a bit weird to me. But I think you are the coolest looking I have seen so far."

"Ye just say that, so A feel better." he muttered and tried to hide his face behind one of his hands. He was sure he looked pathetic right now, but her words just hit him...very deep in a positive way.

"No, I mean it dead honest!" came the protest from her and she slightly slapped his knee. Despite his inner tumult it made him grin, since she really sounded adorable when being honestly offended. He moved one finger from his eye to look into her rather angry face, which made him grin even wider.

"Okay, okay, A believe ye. Happy now?" 

With a nod and a pleased hum she hugged now his leg, which hit him again very deep. Besides their hand-holding, when they went out of the throne room, and petting his knee, this was the most affectionate gesture she had given to him so far. He couldn't really comprehend _why_ she did this, but his father had told him that children are always sincerely with their words and actions, so he truly believed her. 

A warm smile spread over his face and he gently stroke through her hair, always aware of his claws. It was incredible how soft it was and it seemed that she liked it, since she hummed contentedly.

"And ye are very decent and tough for a Fairy. No one will call ye dainty or anything like that, so no need to act not like yerself, okay?" he asked her after a few moments.

The immediate answer was a nod, before the Fairy princess looked hopefully at him. "So you think I could make some friends here?"

Bog had to snort at her eager tone, but could only shrug. "Can't really tell ye. It surely would take some time and A don't know if Goblin kids would really warm up to a Fairy."

Determination filled the girl when she let go of his leg and put her little fists on her hips. "Then I will show them, that I'm not an ordinary Fairy. Without being too rude." A pensive frown came over her face. "You said I'm tough, is that good thing?"

A nod was the answer for her. "Aye, it shows ye can stand yer ground and that will earn ye at least the respect from the others, which is something."

"Hmmm.... As long as it makes them play with me, I'm fine with that." she said with a grin, which made Bog chuckle.

"Ye are easy to please, princess."

"I'm a simple girl." was her quick and proud answer, before she added, "And it's Marianne."

Another snort was made by the prince. "Fine then, Marianne."

Pleased with his reaction Marianne hummed, before she asked him, "And is your name really Bog?"

"Yeah, it is. Why do ye ask?" He looked down at her with a raised brow and she just shrugged.

"It's just a bit weird, to be named after a place. It's also funny with your father, he has the name of a tree."

Now Bog looked rather deadpanned at her. "Don't many of ye Fairies are named after flowers?"

Marianne was about to open her mouth to voice her protest, but had to close it again, since he was right.

"See?" he carefully poked her nose and she giggled squeaky. Normally he loathed to use that word, but _gods_ was she adorable. 

"As far as A know it's tradition to name yer child after something that is home to the Dark Forest. Mah name simply happen to be a region of it." Bog explained to her.

She nodded in excited understanding and clapped her hands. "I hope I can come back here. There are sooo many things I want to know about the Forest and the Goblins."

"Well, since it seems to be the plan of our parents that we should be friends, A'm sure you will come here more often." So far Bog still didn't know what to think of his and Marianne's mother's actions with this. Maybe it could help to form an alliance in the future, with him and Marianne as friends, but for the present? Maybe his father was willing to cooperate, but he couldn't imagine that the Fairy King would be happy about it, as he had witnessed earlier.

Marianne however seemed to be very delighted by it and jumped a bit. "Yay, that is awesome. I would like to be your friend Bog."

"Ye really must be desperate for finding a playmate, when ye want me to be yers, _mah dear_ _Marianne_." he said a bit mockingly, but didn't mean it seriously bad.

A frown was on the face of the young princess. "Why do you say that? You are nice, you listen to me and you are cool." She folded her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet. "Perfect reasons for me to want you as friend."

The third time is the charm, so was the saying and it was true. For the third time now the words and action of Marianne hit Bog deeply and now he actually felt warmth spread in his chest. He really was not used to this, so it made him fluster a bit.

"We will see." He cleared his throat and then grinned at her. "Just because A'm told to, A won't simply befriend a wee princess like ye."

Catching on his joking Marianne returned the grin, put her hand on her hips and craned her neck to look him directly into his face. "And I need to think about it again, if I want you as friend. You are so big, my neck hurts looking at you. I hope you have enough air up there."

As reaction to this taunt, Bog lowered himself and bared his fangs in an amused smirk. "Ye know, A have heard ye Fairies are tasty. Really wanna find out, if that is true."

For a second she looked actually frightened, but then she showed her own small teeth. He noticed that she missed an incisor. "I would punch your teeth out, so that you can't chew me anymore."

At this display Bog couldn't hold himself back and started to laugh. Marianne joined him within a moment. They laughed for several minutes, until she almost collapsed from all the laughter. With a swift move, Bog lifted her up and set her on his table, so that she was more on eye-level with him. It was easier for them to talk like that, but it also gave Marianne the opportunity to hit his shoulder, whenever he teased her. Not that he would complain about that.

Somehow it surprised him how much fun this little Fairy was and that he felt actually connected to her. When he was young, he had carved for a friend, but had dismissed the possibility a few years ago. Now he sat here, making jokes with a small creature, that wasn't from his realm, and who was more than willing to be his friend. Bog had to admit, that he was actually happy about this development. Maybe this could really work out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comments will (hopefully) motivate me to upload new chapters sooner.  
> At least they are very appreciated. <3


	3. The Arrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I really managed it to write a new chapter just in two weeks! I'm impressed by myself. xD  
> Maybe I've could published this chapter sooner, when it wouldn't have gotten so long again. *groans*  
> I hope I can keep a constant chapter length from now on, the first chapters being shorter than the rest is okay, I guess.
> 
> Bog and Marianne learn a bit more about each other, the idea of them getting engaged is presented to them and Cedar likes to annoy Dagda. Have fun!

The young heirs of the Light Field and Dark Forest throne talked for hours. There were so many things they had to tell each other, so many half-truths, wrong accusations and absurd predications that couldn't be explained in one session and Marianne, due to her young age, wasn't aware of all of them. Still it was a very informative and still entertaining discussion they had. 

It was late afternoon when the topic wandered to their respective kind of wings.

"So, how do ye Fairy get yer wings? Some say ye are born with them or enwrap yerself in a cocoon like butterflies, but yers look like they just simply grow from yer back."

Bog had laid his head on his hand and propped his arm on the table, while Marianne sad on the edge of the table and swung her legs. As many times before, she had to laugh about the things Bog thought to know about her kind. They were just hilarious and luckily he didn't take it bad.

"Well, they really just grow from our back. When a Fairy kid is around six years old, they simply...sprout. Hurts sometimes really bad." she explained with a shrug and fluttered a bit with her very small wings.

Bog nodded and carefully ran a finger over her wings. He could feel the little scales on it, but the hair on them made them so much softer than his scales.

"So, they are still growing? Look much too small, even for yer size." he joked and got a giggle from her.

"Yep, takes some months until they are big enough to fly with and they always grow with you, when you become older."

Now it was Marianne's turn to touch and stroked over Bog's glass-like wings, which he let pass without any protest. She already had touched some parts of his body, like his head, shoulders and chest, because she was so fascinated of his scales. At first, Bog had been very reluctant about letting her touch him, but she had asked, if it was okay and he hadn't been able to say no to her honest curiosity. After a few moments he had to admit, that it wasn't so awful and he didn't mind it. The fact, that the scales were his natural armor and also kinda his clothing had amused her very much. She had accused him for being naked and even when most Goblins had no sense of modesty - or better said no reason to have- , her words had flustered him.

"Your wings look like those from dragonflies." Marianne stated after a few moments and looked to him. "Does this mean you and your papa are part dragonflies?"

"Maybe. We don't know." was Bog's simple answer. It somewhat astonished him how easy it was to talk about this kind of stuff with her now and he would have explained more about his physiology to her, if he actually knew something. In their whole exchange so far, the Fairy never showed any disgust or horror about him or the things he told her about his people. She simply accepted it and was more than once very delighted about the things she discovered.

A thoughtful hum was made by her. "So, how does your wings grow? Did they also sprout from your back? Because your body looks a bit too hard for it."

"A molt." Bog answered. He didn't know, if Marianne knew a lot about molting, so he thought about a way to explain it to her. But it seemed she had at least an idea what it was.

"Molt? Doesn't many insect do that to grow?" she gave him a questioning look and he smiled.

"Aye, because they have exoskeletons, like me. When A become bigger, my old scales get displaced by new ones, that fit me better. When A was around eight years old, the wings started to appear after a molt."

"So, whenever you grow out of your scales, they fall off and you grow new ones?" she asked and tilted her head.

Bog made a vague gesture with his hand. "Basically it works like that."

"Does it hurt?"

The Goblin prince scrunched his face. "Not really, but it's...unpleasant. Very itchy."

"Uhh...." came the sympathetic sound from Marianne and she petted his shoulder.

He gave her a smile, before another question occurred him. "Ye said that the wings start to sprout when ye Fairies are around six years old. Does that mean ye _are_ six or older?"

"I'm actually still five years old, but my birthday is in two months, so I'm almost six." she said proudly. "How old are you and when is your birthday?"

"A'm 13. We Goblins don't really have...birthdays, but A turn older every year at the beginning of full-fall."

Marianne started to count on her fingers. "That means you are eight years older than me." When Bog nodded confirmative, she looked very pleased. But then she scrunched her face. "I thought you would be older, since you are so tall."

Bog was about to give a sarcastic comment to that, when someone knocked at his door. He know that kind of knocking very well.

"Come in." he said and as suspected, it were their mothers, who entered the room.

"Ah, so you two dearies seem to get along." Queen Farica said and smiled at the children.

Griselda waved her hand with a pleasant grin, when she walked towards them. "I take it as a good sign, that neither of them has chopped the head off the other."

Her son made a face at that comment, while Marianne giggled.

"Very funny mother. So, did yer negotiations had any success?"

Both woman looked at each other, their smiles unsure. _That doesn't bode well_ , Bog thought and he got his conformation when Farica started to explain.

"Well, we hope so. It's clear that the two Kings never will become friends..." Bog snorted. As if that was any news. "...but at least they are willing to accommodate their differences for the sake of the kingdoms." She cleared her throat. "To help them an arrangement was suggested, a contract so that they both would keep to their words and relations would be stabilized."

Even when he had no idea what she exactly meant, he got a bad feeling. "What kind of arrangement?"

"You and Marianne will be engaged." Griselda said bluntly and with a grin.

Bog and Marianne look confused at each other, until Marianne asked: "Bog, what does 'engaged' mean?" 

He had to shake his head. "A actually don't know." Then they looked to their mothers.

Farica seemed to be bit surprised and her gaze went to Griselda, who shrugged. "Told you we Goblins don't have this fancy stuff and the boy doesn't know what it is. But your girl?"

"Well, she is still very young." the Fairy Queen tried to explain and the gobliness nodded.

Ignoring the protest from the little Fairy, she looked to her son. "You know how we Goblins get together with our mates, right?

Bog just nodded baffled.

"Well, the way Fairies do it is a bit more...long-winded."

"I wouldn't call it like that." Farica mumbled.

Griselda throw her arms up in the air. "Pah, we Goblins simply hook up and that was it." Bog managed to cover Marianne's ears for a few seconds, before the little fairy swatted his hands away. Since he never could be sure with the language of his mother, he better wanted to be safe than sorry. "You Fairies do all this ceremonial stuff, with the promises and such. It's pretty, won't deny that. But it is as I said: long-winded."

At this statement Farica could just sigh and smiled. "Maybe you are right."

"When am I not?" The Goblin Queen chuckled and turned back to Bog. "At first, there is this thing they call engagement, which is when two lover have promise to each other to marry in the future. Then comes the marriage where those lovers make another promise to be together forever and that's where they become mates, or wife and husband when you use the term from the Light Fields. Do you both got it?"

Bog nodded uncertain, while Marianne scrunched her face.

"So, what? Do ye actually suggest that Marianne and I become mates?" he asked in disbelieve.

His mother waved her hand in defense. "Not now, you are both too young for that. But you would be promised to each other until the day Marianne here comes off age by the Light Field rules, which is when she turns 18. Then it will be her decision if you become mates or not." she shrugged "Dagda insisted on this."

"Ye can't be serious!" Bog snarled at his mother, who didn't flinched an inch. Maybe he hadn't made many tantrums in his live so far, but she knew that there was no real danger from him, even when he was currently the tallest being in the room.   

Still Farica interfered "I'm sorry, we really had hoped it would be enough, if you and Marianne become friends, but my husband is a really stubborn one. An engagement would be more binding and political acknowledged, so that no one can veto it."

The young Goblin was sure that this applied more for the Fairies than the Goblins. "Maybe, but to decide something like this, without asking us. Who knows if we really get a long after a few years, let alone our whole life? Besides, why does the decision only depends on Marianne?"

"We are asking you know, if you agree to the arrangement. And letting Marianne decide in the end was the only way my husband would agree to this." the Fairy Queen said firmly.

"How did he put it? She is the party who brings the biggest sacrifice." Griselda said with a displeased huff and also Bog snorted derogative.

"Should you two agree to this, I'm very sure Marianne would respect your opinion on this matter, when the day comes." Farica tried to pacify.

Since the girl hadn't said anything yet, everyone's gaze went to Marianne, who was rather lost and looked bewildered to Bog. "Why are you so angry about this?"

This question took him by surprise. How could he justify his anger, without ending up clarifying other...things. 

"Ah, well... because that's a big decision that ye have to decide for yerself when ye feel ready to and not because ye are forced." he tried to explain it to her.

"No one forces you Bog, don't be silly." His mother said, but he only huffed angrily again.

"As if we have much scope to say no."

Meanwhile Marianne had started to think about this. "I don't really get what all this engaging and marrying thing is, but..." she looked to her mother. "I would be with Bog all my life long when we marry?" Farica nodded, which made her smile. "That doesn't sound bad."

"Mostly because ye don't really understand what this all implicates." Bog muttered, even when he felt a bit happy about her statement.

Marianne made an angry face at that. "Maybe. But when I'm a grown-up I would understand it, right?"

"Well, A-A guess so." he said and rubbed his neck.

"And in the end, we still can say no to this marry-thing, right?" she asked and crossed her arms.

"Well, mostly ye, but yes."

"See? Should you don't like me anymore, we can say stop and you don't have to see me ever again." Even when Marianne smiled, it seemed to have a sad edge to it. At first Bog didn't know why she got unhappy so suddenly and why she thought he wouldn't want to see her ever again. But then remembered that Marianne believed no one could stand her attitude for long and that this would end the same. He didn't want her to think that.

"Hey, A didn't mean to-" Bog tried to set the situation right, but Marianne interrupted him.

"It's fine. As long you and I can be friends for a while, it is okay. And it will help our daddys not to be angry with each other for now."

She tried to hide it, but Bog could see a bit of bitterness in her eyes. He wished he could make it go away right now, but he couldn't. Remembering his own words, that there was no guarantee that they still would get a long in a few years, he took a deep breath. Right now, it was indeed the best curse of action to help both kingdoms. And it was as she said, they still could say no to this arrangement in the end.

"So young and already such a smart girl." Griselda said and poked him with her elbow "You could learn from her son." 

Bog mumbled something unintelligible.

"So, Marianne is okay with the arrangement." Farica stated and stroked Marianne's hair, before she looked to the prince. "What is your decision Bog?"

A deep and defeated sigh came from him. "A agree, too. As long as it's only a formality."

The Fairy Queen nodded. "That's all we ask for now."

A grumble was his only answer. Even when he agreed to this arrangement from a logical point, he didn't like it that the decision was forced on him out of sudden. It was something he hadn't thought about, nor was he interested in finding a mate yet. Especially since he never had much hope to actually find someone. Who would want a hideous weirdo like him for a mate? No sane female, that was for sure. Bog never believed he would be so lucky like his father to find someone, who would accept him like his mother did.

The touch of Marianne on his hand startled him out of his thoughts. So lost in his self-loathing he hadn't realized that he was clenching his fist so hard, that his talons already buried into his flesh and drew some blood. As soon as he saw that, he relaxed his fist, but Marianne continued to stroke over the back of his hands and gave him a worried look. Bog gave her a reassuring smile, which made her own face light up.

Maybe he never would find a mate. Maybe he would fall in love with Marianne when they got older. Right now it was a weird idea, but who could now? He already would never had imagined that he would meet someone who he can talk so openly with, who understood him and didn't make fun of him. But now he sat her, with a little Fairy girl that was worried about him and smiled at him like no one else. Maybe they won't end up becoming mates and would go their own paths in the future. But he was sure, that they would stay friends for a very long time.

 

* * *

 

Back in the throne room...

While the Queens were looking for the children, Cedar and Dagda had remained in the throne room, now accompanied by another Goblin and Fairy.

Before the negotiations had started, a big table and several chairs had been brought into the room, so that everyone had a place to sit, since it had been expected to be a long meeting. Now the table was only occupied by the Goblin and Fairy, who each wrote silently on a parchment paper.

The contract.

It had been a long forth and back about the details of this contract, most protest had been from King Dagda, which was no surprise to Cedar. Queen Farica's suggestions for ways of aid and trade were reasonable and fair, he had no problem to agree to them. His own demands weren't that high, since the trades would be already enough to help his people. But in the middle of the negotiation Dagda came up again with the argument of trust. Cedar had no personal problem with him and he was absolutely willing to confide in the honesty of the Fairies' offers, but their King seemed to actually have something personally against him, even when he couldn't get an idea about why.

Before the situation could escalate, the Queens had suggested to strengthen the contract and to built closer relations with the engagement of Bog and Princess Marianne. Luckily Cedar was versed enough in Fairy terms to know what they meant and even when he hadn't been so horror-stricken like Dagda from this suggestion, he didn't like the idea of forcing his son into such an arrangement. Another discussion started, which had tired the Goblin King a lot, to his relieve Griselda took the lead on their site.

In the end it had been decided, that the engagement would last until the 18th birthday of the princess - which was twelve years in the future -and that the children would be asked, if they were consented with this. Since Dagda was very convinced, that his daughter never would want to marry a Goblin, he had agreed to it. Mentally Cedar snorted. He didn't know the little princess very well, but from what he had seen earlier this day she seemed to have an interesting character and she hadn't shown any distaste or fear towards him or Bog. His son also seemed not so averse to her, whereas he was normally so defensive towards new people.

Huh, maybe this really could work out.

With the Queens gone, the throne room was silent, the only noises were the scrapping of the quills on the papers and the whispers of the scribes. Cedar was back on his throne, arms propped on his knees and his chin laying on the back of his hands, while he looked cautiously amused at Dagda, who was obviously very displeased by the outcome of this negotiations and the surprising judiciousness of the Goblins. His angry staring amused Cedar only more.

After a few more minutes he heard footsteps coming into the room. Cedar looked to his right and saw Griselda, Queen Farica, Bog and Princess Marianne entering the room. The sight of the cheery and humming Fairy clinging to the hand of his son, who didn't mind this at all, made him chuckle.

It seemed they really got along.

"I'm glad to see that you two didn't start a ruckus while we were gone." Griselda said, when they reached the stairs to the throne. That comment made the Fairy Queen chuckle and Cedar rolled his eyes while he stood up from his throne.

"We are no rascals anymore, my dear Griselda. We can indeed behave ourselves. Right Dagda, buddy?" The last words were addressed towards the Fairy King with a smirk, who only made an angry huff, before he stood up from his chair and went to his daughter.

Intimidated by the approaching King, Bog took a step back and the Princess let go of his hand reluctantly, before her father lift her up into his arms.

"My little girl, are you alright?" he said with a worried tone and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then he shot a quick glare to Bog, which made the young Goblin flinch a bit. Cedar didn't like it at all, that the Fairy King acted like his daughter would have been in any danger, just because she was alone with his son. Luckily the princess eased the situation.

"Don't worry daddy, I'm fine. Bog is really nice and he told me many cool things about the Dark Forest and the Goblins!" she said eagerly, which made the adults smile, besides Dagda, who still looked a bit worried.

"Ah, that is very nice. But weren't you afraid? "

The princess frowned at him.

"Of course not daddy. They were actually afraid of me." The proud tone she said that made now everyone in the room chuckle, besides again from Dagda.

"A think it's obvious that yer daughter can take care of herself, so stop being such a worrywart Dagda." The Goblin King grinned. For that comment he got an angry glare from the other King and a happy smile from the little Fairy, which he preferred. 

Before any more words could exchanged, the Fairy scribe piped up.

"Sires? We are finished."

King Dagda nodded and then turned to his wife.

"I have explained everything to her. She agrees to the arrangement and Prince Bog as well." Queen Farica informed him, which made Dagda sigh desperate and looked to his daughter.

"Are you really sure about that my dear?"

"Of course I am. Bog is nice, so I have no problem with that." Marianne emphasize her statement with a firm nod.

While the Fairy King tried to somewhat argue her out of this decision, Cedar went to his son and leant down to him.

"A hope ye aren't angry at us. Didn't like the idea at first, but Dagda is a narrow-minded idiot." he said whispery, which earned him a snort.

"Marianne had told me something like this. Don't worry, A can understand that it's necessary." The young Goblin said with a shrug.

The mouth of the Goblin King turned into a thin line and he frowned slightly.

"Ye really don't have to do this Bog. It's generous from ye to agree to this for the sake of the Forest, but A'm sure we could find another solution."

"Father, it's really fine," Bog said firmly. "The princes is...alright. Just a little, feisty Fairy girl," he shrugged again and rubbed his neck with a slight smile. "Nothing A can't handle."

A low chuckle came from Cedar and he straighten up again. "When ye like her that much, A will accept yer decision."

"A-A didn't say -" Bog tried to protest, but his father walked pass him to the Fairy King.

"Well Dagda, since both our children agree to this arrangement and ye surely want to be back into yer kingdom before nightfall A think we should get over with this." he said and nods toward the two parchments that lay on the table.

A defeated sigh came from the other King and he nodded. "You are right."

With his daughter still in his arms he went to the table and put Marianne on one of the free chairs, so she was tall enough to look at the parchment. Cedar beckoned Bog over to the table too and the prince followed the order immediately. The scribes handed the quills over to their kings signed the contracts with their name and seals of their kingdoms. Then it was Bog's and Princess Marianne's turn to sign. It was an amusing sight to see the princess concentrating so hard to simply write her name. Bog seemed to noticed that, too.

"A'm surprised that ye actually can write." he joked with a grin and earned a slight angry huff from her.

"Hey, I'm almost six, not a baby. Of course I can write. _I'm_ surprised that _you_ can even hold the quill with your gangly fingers." She poked him with the tip of her quill, which of course didn't hurt him a bit, but she still looked pleased.

"Cheeky, little lass." Bog chuckled and tickled her with the feathery end of the quill, which made the princess giggle. 

Cedar heard the snickers from the Queens behind him and he himself grinned widely at this adorable interaction between the children. He never had witnessed Bog being so carefree and playful with anybody before, which made him extremely happy. But what did displeased him was the fact, that at Dagda's glare Bog stopped in his playfulness and took a step away from the table, since he had finished signing. It made Cedar angry, that the Fairy King still acted as if his son would try to hurt his daughter, even after this sweet display. It was obvious that they both liked each other and the Goblin King was determined to give those two more time to hang around with each other, without the Fairy King's looming presence. 

"Well," he started to say, when the princess also finished the signing and clapped his hands together. "the contract is all fine and dandy, but A really hope ye won't leave it at that. The princess is always welcome to visit us here, since she is as good as a part of the family now." 

A pleasant smirk spread on Cedar's face, when he saw the horror on Dagda's face and the big grin on the princess's one. 

"I really can come whenever I want?" she asked the Goblin King and when he nodded, she cheered in joy and shook Bog's arm. "Did you hear that Bog? I can visit you whenever I want!"

Bog himself looked very pleased about his father's offer and the Fairies delight. They already had wondered, if they would be able to see each other again and this turned out to be better than they expected. But before he could utter a word, the Fairy King put his hands on his daughter's shoulder to calm her down.

"Now, now, my dear. That...is a thing we need to discuss before we can decide this so frivolously. Besides, your mother and I will be very busy and can't come to the Dark Forest all the time."

"Well, then I just go alone. That's no problem." she answered with a shrug, but her father's expression became even more worried.

"Oh, that _is_ a big problem my dear. It's too dangerous for you to come here all alone."

Cedar was about to interfere, angry about Dagda's behavior, when Queen Farica stepped forward. 

"Then she will simply travel with the goods we will sent to the Dark Forest. Thus she is protected and won't get lost in the forest." she said firmly and then turned to Cedar.

"I'm sure we can count on you, that you will take care of our daughter."

"A promise that she won't face any harm here and that we will take care of her, as if she was our own." he said with a respectful bow. A gesture that Cedar rarely did, but he had to admit that he liked the Fairy Queen far more than her husband and had no problem to act more polite than usual.

"That's all I wanted to hear." Farica hummed pleased. When she noticed that Dagda wanted to protest against this, she just raised her finger to silence him.

"We _will_ talk about this at home." Her tone and expression allowed no argument here and Cedar knew from experience, that it was the best curse of action to go along, when your woman gave you an order like this. Which King Dagda luckily did, as he sighted in defeat.

The Queen then looked to the Fairy scribe and signaled him to take their piece of the contract with him and wait outside. She then turned back to the Goblin King.

"I hope you don't mind to sent your laborers to our kingdom as soon as possible. With their help, taking care of our own people will go along much faster and we can sent you the needed goods as soon as possible." 

Cedar nodded thoughtful. "That sounds plausible. A try to gather a few workers tomorrow and sent them yer way. We also have to take care of some things here, but then A will sent ye more help."

"Thanks, we would really appreciate that, just as we did your hospitality." Farica said with a little curtsy towards Cedar and Griselda, which they answered with a bow.

"Well, then. Marianne?" The Fairy Queen turned to her daughter, who currently tried to poke Bog more with the quill and he tried to swat her away gently. As soon as she heard her name, the princess hid the quill behind her back and looked as innocent as possible.

"Yes, mommy?"

Bog snorted at her faked innocence. 

With a gentle smile Farica walked to her daughter and petted her back slightly. "It's time to go home. Say goodbye."

Princess Marianne made a grumpily sound at that and looked rather unhappy at Bog, who couldn't take it to see her like this. So he nudged playfully at her shoulder to cheer her up. 

"Now, tough girl, ye heard yer mother. Ye will be back sooner as ye think and then ye can chew my ear off again as much as ye want."

That seemed to lighten up the mood of the little girl, since she smiled. "Okay, even when I hope you will also show me around a bit."

Bog crossed his arms and looked with a raised eyebrow at her. "Maybe. When ye are a good girl."

"Can't promise that." she answered and both chuckled.

Now Bog didn't know if he maybe should shaking her hand goodbye or not, but Marianne took this choice from him. She still stood on the chair and even when she wasn't at eye-level with him, her head now reached his chest and that's where her short arms clasped around for a hug. Too startled to react properly at this gesture, Bog just looked down at the top of her head, which was nestled against him, before he gently petted said head. Then the Fairy looked up at him with a bright smile.

"Goodbye Bog. It was fun talking to you."

"Ah, well. it...it was also fun for me." he stuttered and blushed slightly.

With a giggle, Marianne let go of him and then got picked up by her mother, which cast a warm smile at the young Goblin. All this affectionate gestures made him...not uncomfortable, but Bog got a bit flustered and he wrung his hands. Before her mother turned around, Marianne waved at his parents.

"Bye aunt Grissy, bye uncle Cedar. It was nice to meet you."

"It was also nice to meet you, little thistle." Griselda bid her farewell, while Cedar just nodded at her with a fond smile.

The Goblins watched the Fairies leaving the throne room, which then surely would be guided out of the castle by one of Cedar's man.

Bog let out a huff of air. When he had woken up this morning, he would have never imagined that the Fairy Princess would actually hug him, not to mention the other things that had occurred. As he turned around, he looked directly into the smirking face of his father, who leant down to him.

"What?" Bog asked defensive and prepared himself for one of his father's wisecracks, but nothing like that happened.

Cedar just tilted his head and hummed thoughtfully, before he straightened up again and just said: "Nothing."

The young Goblin just looked perplex after his father, who walked towards his throne. That was unusual from him.

"Come on, A know ye want to say something!" he exclaimed, but got only a chuckle from the older Goblin.

"Oh, is there something that needed to be addressed?" Cedar said teasingly and plunked himself down on the throne, while Bog only groan in annoyance. 

"A'm in mah room." he grunted and flew out of the throne room.

"The boy adores that little Fairy." Griselda piped up, as soon as Bog was out of the room. She leaned against the left armrest of the throne.

"A had the feeling he does." Cedar agreed, but then looked a bit cautionary at his mate. "Next time ye pull this kind of stunt A ask you to inform me before."

"Pah, you would have done a runner, as soon as the Fairies would have arrived here." She poked his chest. "You want to form relations with the Light Fields, but woe they actually come and talk to you. I would have ended up doing all the negotiation on my own."

"But those discussions are so _boring_." The Goblin King whined and slipped down in his throne, so that he more laid on it than sit. "Besides, Dagda is such a frustrating character to deal with. A have never met a more bullheaded person like him." he grumbled.

Griselda petted his arm sympathetically. "I agree to that. Luckily Farcia has a good grip on him, otherwise this whole action would not have been possible." 

The hand that had petted his arm wandered now to his chin and started to stroke his beard. The former annoyed growl slowly turned into a low, pleased one.

"But I'm really proud of your behavior. You have acted as polite as you should do towards another king. Even when Dagda was hard to handle." she said in a humming voice.

"Hmmm, does that earn me a little reward?" he asked and looked at her with a lecherous grin, on which Griselda chuckled and acted coy.

"Cedar, really. Don't you think we are getting too old for such fooling?" 

"Only when ye have become a spoilsport, which ye _aren't_. Now come here." 

With those words he heaved a gleefully snickering Griselda, to snuggle besides him on the throne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
> As always, feel free to point out any mistakes I made and I would appreciate every comment and kudo. <3


	4. Think with your Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised next chapter in the span of two weeks, yay! xD  
> Had to cut out a few scenes, since I came up with new ones. The old ones will be their own chapter, the next to be specific.
> 
> Cedar gives a few advices to Bog and Marianne finally comes back to the Dark Forest.
> 
> Btw, last time I forgot to give you guys here on AO3 a link to a picture of [Cedar, so here you go.](http://pikuna.tumblr.com/post/143909980692/name-the-cedar-king-called-ced-by-a-very-few)
> 
> Thanks to dancesonmoonlight for beta-reading and MagicalStranger13 for giving feedback at the first part of the chapter.

It had been two weeks since the Fairies arrived at the Dark Forest. Just as his father promised, a group of Goblins were sent to the Light Fields a day later, more following the day after. There had been no word when the Fairies would be able to sent the promised goods, but his parents were sure they would arrive in the next few days.

Currently, the Goblin Prince sat on the top of the skull entrance and gazed along the pathway that lead to the castle. After he had gone to his room, he had reflected the events of that day for some hours. Bog was still troubled about this whole engagement thing and couldn't believe that he had agreed to it. His father was right; they could have looked for another solution. But this was the fastest and easiest way they could agree. And in the end, Bog came to the conclusion that the engagement wouldn't have a big impact on him and Marianne for the next twelve years. For the time being they weren't obligated to anything and could just enjoy their...friendship?

The prince wasn't sure if their relationship could already be labeled as a friendship. Yes, they got along very well; he liked that feisty girl and whenever he thought about their playful quarrels and the fact she had hugged him, a smile spread on his face, something he tried to avoid doing in the presence of his parents. But didn't it take more time to become friends and didn't it require more knowledge about each other? He simply had no experience in this regard, but Marianne seemed to be okay with calling him her friend already.

"Ye know, pinning after yer little Fairy won't make her arrive any sooner."

Bog let out a surprised yelp and barely managed not to fall off the skull when the grinning face of his father suddenly appeared besides him. He had been so deep in his thoughts, that he hadn't notice the buzzing sound of the wings that held the older Goblin in the air.

"A'm NOT  _pining_ ," mumbled the prince as he tried to look collected and not like his father had almost given him a heart attack. 

"Sure ye're not," The irony positively dripped from his words as Cedar landed behind his son on the skull, so that it wouldn't snap shut. "Then tell me what ye call it, when ye sit here from dawn to dusk for days, gazing into the woods and being so lost in yer own mind?"

"It's called teenage phase, dad," Bog grunted defensive. "Ye should know that very well."

"Oh, now that's a low blow," Cedar said chuckling, but when his son gave no sign of a response, he decided on another course of action. "If ye want, A can write a letter to the Fairies tomorrow. A need to ask them about the goods anyway."

For most people, it was hard to tell when Cedar was joking or when he was serious, but Bog had learned to pinpoint this by his voice. Right now, there was no mocking in it and it was a generous offer.

"Well…" he set his jaw, trying to sound neutral. "Ye don't have to, but if ye need to anyway, that would be...good."

He wasn't excited about this offer. And he surely wasn't missing Marianne. Definitely not.

.....

Okay, maybe a bit.

Bog cleared his throat and tried to change the subject.

"Anyway, shouldn't ye be inside with the Goblins that came to inform us about more damage?" he asked and raised one eyebrow.

With a groan Cedar dropped onto the bony ground and leaned against his staff.

"Ye know how much A hate to listen to this yackety-yak. The worst things have been taken care of and don't need mah immediate attention. Plus without the goods from the Light Fields we can't do much. Yer mother will inform me later what problems those Goblins had."

Snorting, Bog said, "A'm sure ye are the most irresponsible King the forest ever had." but with no real accusation in it. He turned around to see his father grin and shrug at that.

"Perhaps. But there is no chaos yet, so A think A’m not doing too bad,” Cedar poked him on his shoulder. "And A’ll make sure that ye will be a better and more responsible ruler than me."

"Yeah, by letting me doing yer paperwork." Bog said and swatted at his father, who easily dodged that attack.

"Hey, ye're far better with fancy words than me. A would probably fall asleep over those letters." he said laughing and Bog also had to chuckle at that.

When it came to paperwork, or hearing the complaints of his subjects, Cedar acted like a bored teenager and always tried to escape. While the far more patient Griselda took care of the complaining subjects, Bog had to read and answer most of the letters his father got. Even when it annoyed him, the Goblin prince had to admit that this was very good training for him when he would later become King. Paperwork was really the most pedantic and taxing task he could imagine and the earlier he got used to it, the better.

Besides his aversion against office work, Cedar really wasn't such a bad king. Whenever he made his escape, the Goblin King made patrols in the forest and always lent a helping hand, regardless how minor the task was. He simply was a Goblin who preferred action above words when it comes to take care of his kingdom. That was something Bog could appreciate.

"Ye really should give me credit for writing that letter to the Fairies. Ye would probably forget about the goods and just ask about Marianne." Cedar said with a smirk. Sometimes Bog wished that his father would use his big mouth less in general.

Annoyed, Bog turned his back to his father. However, his father grabbed him by the shoulders turning him back around. Cedar looked at his son with a gentle face.

"Ye know, son, there is really no shame in missing a friend. A was not much different with yer mother." Bog was about to disagree, that it was indeed different, but his father raised his finger and he kept quiet. " _Before_  we fell in love and all that. She was mah first real friend and whenever she was gone without me, A felt terrible ill." Cedar made an unpleasant face at the memory of it. Uncertain, the young Goblin rubbed his neck.

"A don't know if ye could call me and Marianne friends already. A think that maybe -  _ouch!_ " Bog cried out when his father hit him on the head with his staff. "What was  _that_  for?"

"Yer problem, mah boy, is that ye think too much. Both Friendship and Love are not matter of the head," he moved the staff from Bog’s head to his chest, "but of the heart." Cedar gave him a few seconds to let the words sink in. "So stop wracking yer brain and act on the things ye feel. That Fairy girl has already taken ye to her heart, and ye will be well advised to be happy and act accordingly to it." His father looked at Bog with a stern expression, something that was very rare, while Bog looked back with a sullen one. He scratched the area on his chest where the staff had poked him.

Acting from his heart and not his head? Bog didn't know if that was a wise course of action. So far his heart had caused him more pain than his head, and he knew he could count on his wits. When his gaze went up, his father looked at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for his son's reaction. Defeated, Bog sighed. 

"Since when are ye so philosophical?" Cedar had to laugh at that.

“Well, since ye need some wise words, A thought A pack them up nicely." Thoughtfully he stroked through his beard. "Maybe A should tell Tytos to give ye some philosophy lessons. Ye could surely use it."

"Please no." Bog pleaded, running his hands over his face. "Ye know he wouldn't stop talking for hours if ye give him that idea."

"Well, then how about a little deal?" Cedar suggested with a sly grin. "For once ye shut yer brain down and just enjoy yerself. And as reward, A won't give the old owl any orders like that." He ended his proposal with a motion that looked like he would zip up his mouth.

Warily, the young prince eyed his father up, who tried - unsuccessfully - to appear innocent. Bog knew that Cedar would never force him to do anything, not even when he suggested a  _deal_ . This was just his way to nudge him into the right direction. And to be honest, the prospect of Tytos going on forever with his lecture really motivated him to give this “ _don't-think-just-act-thing”_  a chance.

"Fine, whatever," Bog sighed. "The deal wouldn't include that ye drop yer teasing a bit?"

"No chance, my boy. A live just for teasing ye. Otherwise ye wouldn't even know how to spell fun," Cedar said with a nonchalant shrug. Again Bog had to sigh and his father's mirth turned into a warm smile again. "Ye are a very smart boy, Bog. Much smarter than me. A know that others have been cruel to ye and ye think that being yerself would be a sign of weakness." The sigh that Cedar made seemed to come from deep down. He suddenly appeared much older. "But ye are still young. Enjoy the time ye have with yer new friend. Ye’ll have to worry about in the future, believe me."

Surprised, Bog looked at his father, who seemed to have grown a shadow on his face and a worried glint in his eyes. The older Goblin shook himself and went back to his warm smile.  _That_  was very unsettling for Bog. It was rare for his father to get so serious, but he always brought good advise with it. Bog was glad to know that his father always had the right words for him. After all, no one understood him better, not even Marianne. But that look just now was so...dark, so out of place on the normally joyful face of the Goblin King.

Should he ask what that was about? His father’s last statement also gave him a bad feeling. Something was on his mind, and it hadn't anything to do with last winter, that was for sure. But maybe Bog just misintpreted it and his father just had a flashback of his youth. Then the dark look should be no surprise for him. If there really was a problem in the Forest, he was sure the King would have told him.

They sat in silence, Bog scratching the skull they sat upon nervously as he was in his musings. When he came to the conclusion that it was nothing bad, the young Goblin offered his father a small smile.

"Aye, A will heed yer advice then, father." For a second, Cedar looked dumbfounded, but then let out a bark of laughter. Bog felt relieved, seeing a much more familiar and reassuring reaction from his father.

"See? A told ye that ye are better with the fancy words." his father said with a chuckle. Bog just rolled his eyes, a smile still on his face.

The young Goblin was about to retort, when he suddenly heard a hushed whisper from the forest. They both looked up over the bridge that connected the stump-castle - which stood in the middle of a bog - with the rest of the forest floor. Out of the thicket was a line of mushrooms that led to the beginning of the bridge. The mushrooms were leaning to each other, causing the whisper. They were the communication network of the Dark Forest and their main task was to inform the King when something unusual happened in the forest.

"Well, seems A don't need to write the letter after all," Cedar mumbled. With a groan, he stood up. When he looked down at Bog, he found his son’s seat empty. Bog was already flying out towards the last mushroom of the line. "Impatient boy." the Goblin King chuckled. with a shake of his head, Cedar followed him.

There was always a Goblin stationed at the last mushroom to carry any messages to the King inside the castle. Currently it was Griswald's task to do so. Besides being the highest ranked Goblin under Cedar's command, he also was one of Griselda's younger brothers and had come with her to the castle to serve under the King of the Forest. Griswald followed the family tradition to wear some kind of clothes. In his case it was a pair of brown leathery pants. He carried no weapon; his thick skull and impressive pair of horns were enough to defend himself. Similar to his sister, Griswald also had fuzzy brown hair, which was just a bit shorter than Griselda's.

Right now, Griswald leaned forward so he could understand the message from the mushroom. A grin spread on the wide mouth of the Troll-Goblin. As he turned around, Griswald jumped back at the sudden sight of the Goblin Prince.

"Boy! Don't scare me like that!" Griswald exclaimed, as he regained his posture.  Bog gave him an apologetic smile and nervously fumbled with his claws.

"Sorry uncle. That wasn't on purpose."  Griswald only grunted at that, before he looked at Cedar, who had just landed besides his son.

"So, what news have the blabbers for us?" Cedar asked. 

"The Fairies finally came into the forest and are heading our way," Griswald glanced at Bog and his wide grin appeared again. "They say that the little princess is with them."

"Ah, that is good to hear," Bog said as calmly as possible. He had to control himself so that his face didn't split into a bright smile. His wings twitched slightly from the urge to go search for the Fairies. Without him noticing, Cedar and Griswald exchanged amused and knowing glances, before the Goblin King cleared his throat.

"Say, Griswald, do the Fairies look like they’re lost?"

"No. The mushrooms recognized one of the knights from the last time, so they know where they’re going. However, they seem to have taken the long route. Probably because it looks safer to them." 

Cedar nodded and leaned down to his son, who winced a bit, as he hadn't paid attention to the two adults. 

"A think it would be safer for them if ye go and guide them to us. What do ye say, Bog?"

"Uh, that surely would be better." he answered, a bit perplexed. With a huff of laughter his father gave him a little shove.

"Well then, hurry up and catch them. We don't want them to end up in one of yer namesake's, right?" Bog wanted to roll his eyes at that, but was to thankful for this legitimate excuse to look for the Fairies - Marianne in particular -, so he settled on a little grimace, before the took up into the air. Cedar and Griswald watched him fly away, before the latter looked up to his King with a chuckle.

"The boy really has it bad for the little Fairy, huh?" Cedar let out an amused hum.

"Well, first real friend, and the fact that she's such a fierce, little thing, A can't hold it against him. Wasn’t much better with yer sister, remember?" The smaller goblin groaned.

"Yes, you followed her everywhere like a lost duckling. So annoying to look at after a while."

"Now c'mon on. How couldn't A when she’s such a smart beauty?" Cedar grinned at his brother-in-law, who threw his arms up in the air in annoyance and walked past him.

"No, don't do that again Ced. It was sweet how you gushed over Griselda the first few times, but now I can't take it anymore. I lived with her most of my life and one half of it I had to endure your puppy love!"

"Spoilsport," the Goblin King murmured, but still grinned as he followed him into the castle. 

 

* * *

 

Bog had to stop and ask the mushrooms about the whereabouts of the Fairies a few times, but after 20 minutes he finally found the convoy of Fairy soldiers, Elf workers and squirrels as draft animals walking through the brushwood. The latter surprised him, since squirrels were known to be sly and brisk animals here in the forest, but those seemed to be totally content with dragging the goods behind them. It was also fascinating for him to see how small the Elves actually were. They were even smaller than the average Swamp-Goblin, and that was already small for him.

He landed on a branch to observe the convoy. To his disappointment, he couldn't spot Marianne and wondered if Griswald had just fibbed. Nonetheless, Bog had the task to guide the Fairies and Elves to the shortest and safest route through the forest, so he looked for the Fairy with the fanciest armor – an indicator for their leader - and flew down to him.

When he landed in front of them, the Fairies and Elves stopped in their tracks, causing some ruckus and some gasps in shock when they saw the Goblin. A few young soldiers were about to draw their swords, but one gesture from their captain, who was an older Fairy, and they dropped back.

"Bog Prince?" he asked in a polite, but wary tone.

"Aye," Bog answered after he eyed the young soldiers up. His whole body had gone tense as soon as he sensed their hostility towards him. It didn't abate by much, even when they realized that he was no immediate danger to them. He maybe could take a little group of them down, but not a whole platoon, so he was very careful now. Maybe it really wasn't a wise choice to confront the Fairies alone, when many of them were still hostile.

The Fairy Captain seemed to ignore that the Goblin prince was on alert and saluted to him, since he was still higher in ranks than any of the other Fairies.

"Captain Rosin, your highness. We are here to deliver the promised goods from King Dagda and Queen Farica." he informed him. Bog nodded at that.

"Very good. A was sent by my father to show you a shorter route. It will also be safer for yer cargo." The Captain raised an eyebrow at that.

"With all due respect, I already have once traveled to the Dark Forest castle and know the way. There is no need for such trouble on your part."

It took him a few deep breaths to not snap at the Fairy captain. Bog's nerve were already on the edge from his cautiousness and nervousness, he couldn't use any back-chatting now. 

"Ye may know one way to our castle, Captain. But as I said, it would take ye much longer and more troublesome with yer cargo. A think it would be smarter from ye to trust someone who has grown up in the forest with the route." he finally said as calmly as possible, but also tried to put as much authority has he could manage into his voice. From their politeness, Bog could only assume that they didn't know how young he actually was, otherwise they would have strictly refused to take any kind of orders from him. This didn't keep the soldiers from whispering with each other.

Two soldiers, roughly the same age as Rosin, pulled their captain a few inches away from the Goblin and whispered their concern.

"Captain, I know we are supposed to be friendly with the Goblins, but..."

"Do you really think we can trust him to guide us through the Forest?"

"He may lead us into a trap and claim our deaths to be an accident."

"He is a Goblin and their prince after all."

"They might want to eat us."

"WHAT was that?" Bog suddenly burst out and made the Fairies in front of him wince.  He didn't hold it against them, that they were wary of him and the Goblins, Bog shared the sentiment towards the Fairies. But to think so low of him? To think he would actually lure them into danger when there was so much more at stake than those damned, old prejudices? The Cedar King had sent Goblins to the Light Fields without a second thought, trusting the Fairies enough to not harm his people and now this? 

Bog was about to growl in anger, when a familiar and delighted voice cut through the tense air.

"Bog!"

Before the Goblin prince could react he felt how something crashed into his legs and almost sent him backwards to the ground. He could hold his balance and when he looked down, his gaze met a bright smile and a pair of warm amber eyes. The owner of them hugged his leg.

"Marianne!" he exclaimed surprised, but also happily. He put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. She wore a dark blue tunic with sleeves, brown pants and boots, something far more practical and stealthy than a dress Bog had to admit. "Where have ye been?"

The Fairy princess giggled, but before she could answer his question, the Captain interfered with slightly panicked expression.

"Princess, please! You were supposed to stay hidden in the cart."

Bog looked at the cart that was behind the Captain and his two soldiers. The tarpaulin was partly removed, probably from Marianne after she came out of her hiding spot.

"But it's boring in there. Besides, I wanted to say hello to Bog." she explained to the older Fairy and then ignored him in favor to hug Bog's leg even more. Because of her tight hug and the joy of seeing her again, Bog had to laugh. 

"Please Marianne. Ye forgot how strong ye are, ye will break mah leg.” With a pleasant hum Marianne let go, but then looked a bit concerned at him.

"You were angry before I came out. Did they say something mean to you?"

"Uh, well..." Bog wasn't sure if he should answer this, especially not when the other Fairies were still present. But Captain Rosin took this decision from him.

"It was just a little...misunderstanding." he tried to explain. Bog let out a scornful snort.

"A wanted to show them a safer route, but it seems they believe A would lead them into a trap." Marianne gasped in shock and looked rebukingly at the Captain.

"Mr. Rosin, didn't my mommy told you to be nice to the Goblins?" He made a perplex face at the little princess, who tried to look as angry as possible at him.

"Well, yes princess, but-"

"Bog would never do such a mean thing. He just wants to help and you should be thankful. Now be nice and listen to him, or I will tell my mommy that you were rude to the Bog Prince."

It took all his willpower not to laugh out loud, but Bog managed to appear just a bit smug while he watched the befuddled expressions of the adult Fairies. He was really impressed that Marianne could manage to sound so...commanding at her age. But maybe it was more the threat that she would report the Captain to her mother, than her given authority that made them listen to her. In any case, most of the tension left Bog, since he didn't feel much hostility coming from the soldiers anymore.

Reluctantly Captain Rosin sighed in defeat and saluted.

"Yes, your Highness." Then he looked at Bog. "Well, then show us your safer route."

The Goblin prince nodded and walked a bit aside of the current path to a little rock. He jumped on the rock, motioning the Captain to follow him. When the Fairy was besides him, Bog pointed to a rather small weeping willow. 

"Behind that tree is a little trail that leads ye to the castle. Ye won't encounter any flytraps or spiders on that path and ye are far away from the bogs that are easy to overlook," he explained. Slowly, Captain Rosin nodded and looked from the shown path to his men.

"Very well, we should be able to reach that tree without any big detours and follow that trail." Before he flew back to his men, he muttered a "Thanks." to the prince, but Bog didn't care. He was just here to show them the right way and that was it. He would only stay with them to be sure that Marianne was okay. Said girl came running to him, when he jumped from the rock and indicated him that she wanted to tell him something. He crouched down to listen to Marianne's whisper.

"Do you need to lead them through the forest?" she asked.

"Actually not. They surely can go the rest of the way alone." he said and then crocked his eyebrows at her. "Why do ye ask?" For whatever reason pleased with this answer, the Fairy clapped her hands together.

"Then we can go ahead!"

Without any further explanations, Marianne walked back to the cart she had been hiding in and left a confused Bog behind. Captain Rosin saw her coming back and thought she would hide in the cart again, but when he saw that she actually just came back for her backpack and was about to go back to Bog, he stood in her way.

"Please, princess. I have orders from your father to see that you arrive at the Goblin castle safely. So I request you to go back into the cart."

"I told you that it's boring in there." Marianne frowned and crossed her arms. "Besides I”ll get to the castle faster with Bog. And the faster I'm there, the better, since I will be safe, right?" Ignoring the perplex stammering of the Captain, she looked with a grin to Bog. "At least when he is able to carry me there."

"A little lightweight like ye? That's no problem." the Goblin prince said with a chuckle and with the prospect of going home he eased up completely now.

"That's great." she giggled and then stretched her arm towards him. "Up!” she demanded.

"As the Princess wishes." Bog said with another rich chuckle and scooped the little Fairy up into his arms. Marianne tittered with delight before she exploited her new height advantage and hugged him around his neck. His wings twitched slightly at that and a blush crept over his face, but otherwise he didn't react much, since he was so baffled. Would he ever get used to Marianne hugging him?

Bog was snapped out of his perplexed state, when Captain Rosin tried to speak out a last protest.

"Princess, please. I beg you. Your father wouldn't want you to-" but he was cut off, when Bog snarled at him, after Marianne had uttered a discontent sound and her grip had tighten.

"Don't worry Captain. She will be fine and yer King doesn't have to know about this." he growled and frowned at Rosin, daring him to say any more. When the Fairy only retreated at the aggressive display from the Goblin, Bog only nodded satisfied. "We will await ye at the castle."

With those words he took up into the air. The soldiers could hear a joyful jubilation from their princess, before they vanished into the depth of the forest. 

"The King won't be pleased to hear about that." one officer said to Captain Rosin, who only sighed and straighten again. 

"Well, the Bog Prince isn't wrong. He doesn't have to know about this," he said out loud enough so that a few more soldiers heard this subliminal order. When there were no objections and most of the men just ducked their heads Rosin gave his two officers a last stern look, before he signaled the platoon to move on.

 

* * *

 

They didn't take the direct route back to the castle. Instead they did some stops here and there so Bog could elaborate on a few things that Marianne had been asking about. However, they couldn't take too much time, so sometimes he had to skip some of her questiosn and promise to answer them later. In return, Marianne also told him how she and her mother had to put up a fight to convince her father to let her go to the Dark Forest. 

Bog had landed in front of the entrance of the castle when Marianne came to the part where she and her mother finally won the battle.

"Daddy thought he had said his final words and wanted to walk out of my room. But mommy and I stood in front of the door and we both gave him the deadly glare." To emphasize her story, she mimicked the scowl that was similar to the one she gave Captain Rosin. Bog snorted.

"Ohhh, that's really a deadly one. And yer father had to endure it from both ye and yer mother? No wonder he gave up."

"Yep! He tried to parry us with his own glare, but we are already immune to it. In the end he allows me to visit you at least a week in the month, which is okay. What do you think?"

"Hmm, that sounds quite fair.  We just need to prepare a room for ye, when ye stay overnight here." he said and pondered which of the very few guest rooms could be suitable for her.

"Or I could sleep in your bed. It's big enough after all." Marianne said with a grin. Bog made a face at her. He didn't know if this was a good idea.

"A would probably roll over and squash ye."

"And I would shove you from the bed, if that happens." her grin got even wider. 

"Ye cheeky monkey would surely do that." he said with a bark of laughter and with his free hand he pinched her nose gently. Marianne squeaked joyously and batted at his claws playfully.

They continued their little tiff until they reached the throne room. There they found the Cedar King sitting on his throne, while Griselda stood besides him and listed - with a not so amused expression - all the things the Goblins had complained about to her today.

"Some of the ponds in the northern region are still frozen over and they want you to do something about it,” Griselda explained.

"And what in the bloody hell should A do? A'm a King, not some magician that swings his staff and make it disappear!" Cedar swung his staff emphatically and Griselda only snorted.

"I told them so. Suggested they should take some boulders up on higher stones or trees and throw them into the ponds to break the ice. It would be a start." The Goblin King nodded approvingly at that, before he leaned down to his mate and gave her a smitten smile.

"A expected nothing less from ye, my dear." For a second, Griselda's face seemed to soften, but then she looked irritated again.

"Save your sweet-talk Cedar." She poked him violently in the chest. "Normally I have no problem with being your substitute, but we are still in a critical situation and as King you just can't steal off like that!" Cedar grumbled and looked rather remorseful, while he sat back.

"Oh come on Griselda! What use would it be when A'm the one who has to listen to those complains. Ye know how bored A get from them."

"Maybe, if you stop being such a mulish teenager and pull yourself together, you could manage to do your job at least once! That's all I'm asking for." The Gobliness waved her arms vigorously around and Cedar surely would have gotten hit if he hadn't shrunk back into the throne.

Since his parents had obviously a dispute to solve, Bog was thinking about approaching them later when they had calmed down. But before he could leave the throne room Marianne had detached herself from him and was already running towards the adult Goblins.

"Uncle Cedar, Aunt Grissy!" she called them joyfully and hugged Griselda, as soon as she reached the Gobliness. 

"Oh, the little thistle is finally back!" she laughed and returned the hug of the Fairy.

As Bog walked towards them, he could see his father exhaling in relief, now that his mate was too distracted to scold him anymore. He leaned forward to ruffle Marianne's hair in greeting.

"Hey there, wee princess. Did ye finally convince yer old man to let ye go?"

"Yep," she answered with a proud smile after Griselda let go of her. "He allows me to stay here for a week every month, when it’s okay for you."

"Huh, A'm actually surprised that he let's ye stay here for so long alone," Cedar said, astonished. Marianne only shrugged.

"Mommy and I can be very persuading."

"Ha, that is true," Griselda laughed out. The King grinned.

"Well, A don't think there’s a problem with this arrangement." He then looked to this son. "Are ye okay with that too, Bog?"

"Of course A am. But she would need a place to sleep. Do we have a suitable guest room for her?" Bog directed the question to his mother, who pondered for a few seconds.

"Yes, I think we should have something nice. I will go and prepare it for her." Before Griselda left the room, she patted Marianne on the head.

When she left, Cedar asked Bog for a short report regarding the Fairy convoy and sent out some Goblins to be present for their arrival.

“You know," Marianne said suddenly. "I have been looking up of what plants you remind me of,” she had her hands clasped behind her back and rocked on her heels.

Bog and his father looked in bewilderment at each other, before their inquiring gaze went back to the little Fairy. A mischievous smile spread on her face and Bog got an uneasy feeling from it. She pointed at Cedar.

“You are a pine-tree,” She then pointed at Bog, “And you are his little pinecone.”

Marianne fell in a fit of laughter, because of the rather bad joke and the dumbfounded faces of the Goblins. After some seconds, Cedar joined her in the laughter, while Bog covered his face with his hands.

“Marianne, if this is supposed to be a joke, it is horrible!” he groaned.

“A dunno, A thought it was very good,” his father commented, still laughing a bit.

“Well, since ye share her bad humor, ye can take care of her.” Bog said with a deadpan face.

“If she would be 20 years older, A might do that.” Cedar said with a grin and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Father!” he hissed aghast at the older Goblin and looked to Marianne, who luckily hadn’t noticed anything from their conversation and just tried calmed down from her laughter. A bark of laughter came from the Goblin King, when he saw the shocked face of his son.

“Chill Bog. By the spirits, ye're really too easy to tease, my boy.”

Frustrated, Bog ran a hand over his face and growled. His father tended to wind him up, but the teasing had increased since the Fairy royalty had visited them. The prince was getting the sense that he had to expect even more jokes from his father, as long as he was connected to the princess in any way.

Meanwhile, Marianne had found her composure again and was now poking Bog's leg, who looked down at her.

"Bog, I'm hungry. When it's time for supper?" she asked nicely, but had a slight crotchety undertone. 

"Well, A'm sure as soon mother as finished yer room she will prepare it." Due to all the incidents, he hadn't realized that it was almost evening.

The Fairy princess pouted slightly at that, but before she could start to whine, Cedar interfered.

"Maybe ye should go with her into the kitchen and see what is in our food storage that she can actually eat. We actually don't know what exactly Fairies can eat and what not. And maybe ye can pinch a bit before supper." he said with a wink to Marianne, who giggled delighted. 

"Oh goody! That sounds nice. Come on Bog!" the Fairy eagerly grabbed the hand of the bigger Goblin, who had to hunch down as she dragged him out of the throne room. He nearly tripped over her.

"Hey, shouldn't A be the one in the lead?" Bog said. Cedar heard him protest and then they were gone. 

The Goblin King leaned back into his throne with a content smile. Oh, this was surely going to be an interesting week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name for Captain Rosin came spontaneously into my head. I actually had to google if it was a real name. xD


	5. Just sleep here with me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marianne has her first meal together with the Goblins and it's also the first time for her to sleep somewhere else then home.  
> Can Bog get her back to sleep again or are they both doomed to stay awake all night?
> 
> Little cameo of some sort from a character of MagicalStranger13.
> 
> Thanks to dancesonmoonlight for beta-reading.

As Bog had assumed, his mother started to prepare supper as soon as she had furbished a room for Marianne. The two friends remained in the kitchen after they had checked the storage for suitable Fairy food, and could tell the Queen that mushrooms and berries would be best for starters. Luckily, the convoy had also arrived in the meantime, so there was more food for Marianne. The two wanted to help Bog's mother prepare the meal, but since the Fairy princess was quite taken to some of the sweeter berries, she always took bites from them, instigating Bog to do the same, which ended with Griselda shooing them out of the kitchen.

They went looking for the Fairy soldiers, mostly to show Captain Rosin and his men that Marianne was safe. The Goblins had no real stables, so the squirrels were brought to a high room that was normally reserved for the dragonflies of the castle. Since the insects had their sleeping places in the walls, there was enough room on the floor for the animals and the soldiers to sleep in their sleeping bags. Only Captain Rosin and his two officers requested for their own sleeping quarters.

After checking on them, Marianne and Bog went to her room, so she could take a look and unpack her things. It wasn't a big room, and just contained a round moss-bed, a nightstand with a little light, a simple closet, and a window from where you could look down onto the skull entrance. While Marianne sat on the moss-bed, occupied with her backpack, Bog sat on the floor in front of her and watched.

"You know, we Fairies normally sleep on big flowers," the princess said after she had bounced again on the bed. Bog raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds rather uncomfortable." Marianne only shrugged.

"It's not. It may be a little bit hard for me to climb into mine, but as soon as my wings are big enough I can fly into it." The Goblin prince snorted, amused, before Marianne bounced again. "But I have to say that moss is much more comfy."

"It's the best bedding ye can ask for here in the Dark Forest. Only animal fur is better, but that we only use in winter when it's colder." Bog explained to her, which made her eyes go wide.

"You use fur? But how do you get it from the animals?" 

"Well, we..." He was about to answer, but hesitated in the last moment. From their conversation earlier he figured out that Fairies didn't hunt, so it was clear that Marianne didn't know that animals needed to be killed to get their hide. Should he really tell her about this then? Bog had no idea how a Fairy would react to this, especially such a young one. He quickly glanced around to find something else to talk about, when he spotted the thing that Marianne just drew out of her backpack. ”What's that?" he asked with honest perplexity. The Fairy looked down at the doll in her arms. It was a petite figure, with a purple flower dress and three little stalks on its head.

"That's Bella, she is my stuffed handmaiden that I got from mommy." She held the doll proud in front of her, so that he could take a closer look on it. "I took her with me, so that she doesn't feel lonely when I'm away. Bella gets easily scared when I'm not there to protect her."

Bog glanced to Marianne with an amused smile. It was really adorable how she declared herself to be the protector of her toy. Still, he couldn't deny himself a little joke.

"Sure it's not ye who gets scared without her?” On that comment she puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily at him.

"I'm  _not_ scared!"

"Of course ye aren't." he said chuckling and tousled her hair. This made the glare of the Fairy only angrier, so he tried to pacify her. "Hey, don't give me that look. When A was younger, A also used to carry a stuffed toy around, because I was afraid to go anywhere alone."

"You and scared?" Marianne looked astonished. "That's hard to imagine." This made Bog raise an eyebrow.

"Why is that so?"

"Because you are a Goblin," she stated with such conviction, that Bog had to laugh.

"Still A was a child. Even Goblin children get scared, that's normal."

"But I always thought that Goblins aren't afraid of anything." Marianne said and was visibly surprised by this new fact. 

"Well, we may be hard to frighten, but it's still possible and actually a good thing." She looked even more puzzled after that statement, but before Bog could elaborate on it any further, they heard his mother calling for them. "We should postpone this to later. If A remember right, ye are hungry," he said with a smirk. After standing up, he held his hand towards her. Marianne nodded eagerly and jumped from the bed to take Bog's hand and walk out of the room.

Bella remained on the bed and was seated on one of the pillows.

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at the dining room, it was already filled with the good smell of freshly served food, and the loud noises of the Goblins. Marianne seemed to be amazed by all the hustle and bustle in the room. Goblins were coming in with empty bowls, while others left with full ones, and another bunch just stayed in the room, sitting either on the floor, on chairs at the table, or on the table itself. They talked, laughed and even had little food-fights, no one showing any kind of manners like she was used to from the Fairies. 

"Is it always like that when you eat?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard. Bog chuckled.

"No, not really. The Goblins are a bit more...rackety today than usual because we didn't have that much food during the winter. So everyone is just glad to get their stomachs full." He left out the fact that they also preferred being near their King with all these Fairies and Elves in the castle, since he didn't want her to think they were unwelcome.

"The winter must have been really bad then," Marianne said with a concerned voice. He made a deep sigh.

"Winter is always hard in the Dark Forest. It's hard to get enough food and with how terrible it was this year..."

A clash drew their attention to a pair of Goblins that were using big, empty bowls as some kind of shield and rammed against each other, which resulted in them loosing their footing and landing on their backs. The Goblins around them roared in amusement. Marianne also seemed to be entertained by this. Bog was just glad for the distraction, not liking to talk about this topic. It had been very bad, but it was over, and now they were getting help from the Light Fields. Everything would be okay from now on.

They watched this odd battle for a few more minutes before Bog tugged at Marianne's hand. They proceeded to walk to the end of the table that was near a big window, where his father and uncle were seated. He introduced her to Griswald, who she immediately called uncle Gris, and after asking how Marianne's people where doing, they went to the other end of the table where his mother gave out the food.

"Ah, there you two are," she said as soon as the children came into her sight. "Thought you weren't hungry anymore, after you had reaped half of the storage room." The young Goblin and Fairy exchanged sheepish smiles, before they asked very nicely and politely for their share of food. Pleased with this, Griselda gave Marianne her bowl first, one that she had prepared specially for her, before she served her son the normal Goblin food. 

Just as Bog was about to turn around, he noticed that Marianne was staring at his mother. Before he could ask her, what was wrong, the Fairy spoke to Griselda.

"Aunt Grissy? Why don't you have horns like your brother?" Both Goblins winced at the question and looked up the table at the King, who was too deep into the conversation with Griswald to have heard anything. Not to mention that it was really loud in the room. 

"That is a good question," Griselda answered with a smile that looked a bit forced to Bog. "But the story it is rather long, my little thistle. Maybe I will tell it another time, okay?"

At first Marianne pouted at that, but when the Goblin prince nudged her with his knee, she nodded.

"Okay, but please don't forget it."

"Of course not, princess." the gobliness chuckled.

"Now come, A don't want my food to get cold," Bog chided his little friend in a playful way, to distract her from the topic. With his long legs he was almost at the other end of the table, which caused the Fairy to practically run after him.

"Waiiiit." she whined, more in an angry tone than in a sad one. When she reached him, she tried to punch his kneecap, but with an elegant step he evaded her. The glare she shot him could be described as dangerous, if it wasn’t for the smirk on her lips, that he returned. Around them Goblins laughed at the little spectacle, including Cedar and Griswald.

Finally they sat down at the table on the left side of the Goblin King's seat. A few minutes later, Griselda joined them. She had given everyone their fair share of food. There were still leftovers, but those were something to fight over for. 

After eating for a while, Marianne poked Bog's side to get his attention.

"What is that?" she asked and pointed with her spoon at his bowl.

"That's meat," he said, hoping she wouldn't ask any further. To explain where the meat came from while she ate would surely not be appetizing for her. Luckily, she asked something else.

"Does it taste good?" 

"For a Goblin it does. Don't think ye would like it, however." 

"Well, when you let me taste it, I can tell you." The Fairy was about to put her spoon in his bowl, but the Goblin quickly took it away from her with a slight growl.

"Don't even think about it. That's ma portion, and A think ye told me that ye only eat berries and mushrooms from our food." Marianne pouted angrily at Bog, but he wasn't very impressed by that. He broke eye contact with her when he heard the adults snickering around them.

"Come on, Bog. It's not like the princess would eat all of yer food away,” Cedar spoke up.

"Maybe, but we don't know if Fairies can get sick when they eat meat," he responded a bit harshly to his father's amused tone. 

"I think we will know for sure in a minute," Griswald chuckled. Before Bog could ask what he meant, he heard a triumphant laugh from Marianne. She had climbed onto the table to get to his bowl and had scooped a little piece of meat with her spoon. 

"Ye devious, wee..." he started to curse, but bit back the last word when his mother looked sternly at him. Of course, he got scolded for cursing, but when the little Fairy stole some of his food, that was okay. With an utterly smug expression, Marianne shoved the meat into her mouth and started chewing at it. Soon, her face changed into several different kinds of funny expressions from the taste, and when she swallowed the meat down, she started to cough. "Serves ye right," Bog only grumbled at first, but became worried when she didn't stop coughing. His mother had hurried away to fetch a glass of water for the princess, which she gulped down quickly.

"That tastes horrible," she complained, when she had caught her breath again, still making funny faces.

"A told ye, that ye wouldn't like it," the goblin prince huffed, amused, since Marianne was okay again. The adults had also been worried about their little guest, but now that she was okay, Cedar let out a bark of laughter.

"Ha, but now we know what to do when we want something to laugh about. Those faces were priceless, princess."

"As long as it's not me again, I don't mind that." she answered and sat back on her chair. Quickly, she shoved some of her own food into her mouth, to get another taste of it. Bog chuckled at that.

"So now will ye listen to me when A tell ye something?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow. Thoughtfully Marianne chewed on her food, before she answered with a grin.

"Will have to think about that." Bog only shook his head at that and also continued to eat.

 

After their meal, they went back to Marianne's room. It was already getting dark outside, so Bog suggested her to sleep, since she travelled a long way today. At first she refused and stated she wasn’t sleepy at all, but not even an hour later she was out like a light. He had to grin to himself, while he put the blanket over the sleeping girl. She was such a stubborn and fierce little thing, it was more and more hard to believe that she was actually a Fairy and not a Goblin child. 

Bog watched her for some more moments, before he had to stifle a yawn, a signal for him to also seek out his bed. 

 

* * *

 

It was several hours later, when Bog was woken up by a loud knock. Startled, he sat upright in his bed, looking around for what could have caused the noise. At first he thought it was one of the twigs that slammed against his window. The wind outside was very strong tonight. But when the knock came again, it was definitely from the door. Raising his brow in confusion, Bog stood up from his bed and went to the door. He was baffled to see who had come to his room so late at night.

"Marianne?" The little princess stood in the corridor, clutching her plush toy close to her, a rather nervous expression on her face. 

"Hey Bog. I uh...hope I didn't wake you up." she smiled sheepishly at him. 

"Ah, not really." he lied to her, not having the heart to say she actually did. "But what are ye doing here so late?" She rocked on her heels for a few moments, before a strong sough of wind that went through the walls of the castle and made her flinch.

"W-well, Bella is frightened. She is not used to sleeping somewhere else than home and I can't calm her down. So I thought we could stay with you?" 

"A see." An amused smiled curled his lips up while he watched her. Of course, it was Marianne who was in fact frightened and not her doll, but he didn't point it out. The memory was blurry, but Bog could still remember that he used his own plush toy to cover his own fears when he was her age.

"Then, come in ye two." he invited Marianne inside his room, which made her sigh with relief. Quickly she went to his bed and climbed on it, bouncing around, giggling. The Goblin prince trudged after her, lit up one of the lights and slumped on his bed. Silently, he watched her playing around, before he rubbed his face with his hands and yawned. Well, he surely could forget to get some sleep now.

A moment later, the princess had stopped with her bouncing and sat besides him. A guilty expression crossed her face.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Really, it's fine," he mumbled and then shook himself to be more awake. "Nothing to apologize for. It's normal to be frightened in a new environment. Besides, the Dark Forest can be very scary at night." He tried to phrase it so that Marianne wouldn't think he accused her of being scared. She surely would be niggled about it.

"Were you also afraid of it?" she asked after a few seconds of silence. Bog nodded and hummed, affirmative. 

"Aye, A was. There are many things outside in the forest to be cautious of, so being scared isn't a bad thing. It helps ye to survive." Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say, since her face became scared again. So he added hastily. "But don't worry, ye are safe here. The castle is one of the safest place in our kingdom." 

Marianne only nodded at that and then jumped from his bed, leaving her doll behind to wander around his room. He was a bit confused at first, but he let her roam around. Maybe it would distract her and make her tired. The wind outside had calmed down a bit, so she surely could go back to her room soon. 

Suddenly she screamed in fear and Bog was up in an instant to walk to her. She met him halfway and tried to hide behind his thin legs.

"Marianne, what is it?" he asked her, concerned.

"T-there is a big spider," she whispered, tremulous, and pointed to one of his dressers. On top of it, in the corner of the walls, sat a dark-brown spider that was the size of Marianne's head. Blinking in perplexity, he looked from the spider to her before he understood what this was about and chuckled. 

"But Marianne, that's just Pip." 

"Pip?" she asked and squinted her face at him. He nodded and went to the dresser, while she stood where she was.

"Remember when A told ye, that A also had a plush toy. Well, that's him." Bog explained and picked the toy up. Realization formed on Marianne's face and he had to snort. Seemed she had thought that it was a real spider, even when it's limbs where saggy and its face was far more friendlier designed. He looked down at his old companion, thoughtful, before he smiled at his Fairy friend. "Wanna hold him?" 

At first she didn't look that thrilled by the idea and was rather wary, but he could see that her curiosity became stronger, and in the end she reached for the toy, which he gave her. A little, delighted gasp came from her, after she had eyed up the spider and stroke over it's back.

"He is so soft." Then she cuddled it close to her, causing Bog's face to split into a wide smile.

"Indeed, he is. Ma mother made him for me when A was a lad. Should be ten years old, the little guy."

"I need to introduce him to Bella." Marianne decided when she was done cuddling the plush spider and went with him to the bed, where her own toy was sitting. Somehow it really warmed his heart to see the Fairy princess being so taken by his old plush toy, the only real friend he ever had. Pip had sat in that corner for a few years now, and Bog was happy to see he could make another child happy. 

Not wanting to disturb the first meeting between their two best friends, he went to the big window of his room. When Bog would duck down, he could actually climb out of it and fly out. He did this from time to time to sneak away from home, to have some alone time without saying anyone where he was going. Right now, he sat down on the windowsill, one leg propped on it, the other standing on the floor. From here, he could look down to the bog and also up to the open sky, which was currently almost free of clouds. The prince really liked this view. How often he had sat down here and simply looked down, he couldn't say.

After a while, Marianne came to him. Bog expected her to sit across from him. Instead she scrambled into his lap, causing him to look a bit befuddled. The two plush toys were in her arms.

"They like each other." she proclaimed proudly and patted both Bella and Pip on their heads.

"Ah, that is good to know," he said and quickly wound one arm around the Fairy, since she was about to fall on the floor. When she was comfortable in his lap, she hummed, pleased, and looked up to the stars in the sky.

"Do you Goblins also have names for the stars and their constellations?" she asked him after a while. Bog raised a brow, inquiring at the question. 

"A actually don't know what a constellation is. But we Goblins don't have names for the stars. Most of the time we don't see them, due to the trees and their canopies," he explained. He looked at her. "Do ye Fairies really have names for them?"

Marianne started to tell Bog all the names of stars and constellations she knew from her mother and some stories about them. The prince was really fascinated with all the things that the Fairies came up for something so simple and - in the eye of a Goblin - unimportant as stars. But he didn’t seem to be alone in his fascination. It was adorable how enthused she was as she talked about the things she knew and wanted to know in the future. All the talking also made her more tired, so when she yawned, he nudged her gently.

"Say, don't ye wanna go and try to sleep again? Ye can take Pip with ye, so that Bella won't be afraid." he tried to convince her. At first it looked like she wanted to agree, but when a wind gust caused a branch to thumb against the wall besides the window, she flinched and cuddled closer to Bog.

"I...I don't think she will be sleepy enough already." she made an excuse, whereupon he rolled his eyes and sighed wearily.

"What do ye normally do when she can't sleep? Maybe A can help?"

“My mommy always sings us something when she can’t sleep.” explained the little Fairy and looked with big eyes at her friend. Bog made an uncertain face. Singing her a lullaby was not really an option. He didn’t know of any Fairy ones and the things that Goblins sang wouldn’t help her to find a peaceful sleep. Besides he had never sung before.

"Well, A don't think A could compare to yer mother's voice, so we better let it be." he chuckled slightly nervous.

"Nah, I'm sure you sing fine. Actually, I never heard a Goblin sing. You must have a nice, strong voice." she insisted with such an encouraging smile, that it made him more flustered.

"Really, Marianne. A don't think it would help." The disappointed sigh from Marianne caused a little stab in his heart. She couldn't really think that singing from him would be good enough for her to fall asleep. But what other option did he have? He was so damn tired and she also needed to sleep, so why not try it out? Surely she wouldn't laugh at him, should his voice be horrible while singing. The only problem left was: what to sing? Then he remembered something that his father told him. The best songs are those that come from your own mind and heart. Spontaneous singing was something that came naturally to Goblins, even when it was more of the intimidating nature. But maybe he could work something out.

While he stared up to the sky, he started to hum a melody that came into his mind. From the corner of his eyes he could see, that Marianne looked up to him, but didn't say anything. A few moments later Bog could feel the weave of magic around them, creating the soft play of a guitar. Without thinking he started to sing, the words simply pouring out of his heart.

 

_Where sky and earth touch, a fiery kiss_

_Can you see it, can you feel it?  
_

 

_Colours are fading and calmness returns here_

_Clad in dark robes the night’s drawing near_

 

_Princess, close your eyes_

_Just peacefully fall asleep_

_Princess, you can trust me, I’ll light your way_

_I’ll seize a star to manage it_

_Just sleep here with me_

 

_Already brightness shimmers in the skies._

_Has anyone counted for you all the stars?_

 

_A dream will arrive and choose you,_

_Fly with it, let fairytales be told to you_

 

_Princess, close your eyes_

_Just peacefully fall asleep_

_And if one day I can’t be with you_

_I’ll sneak into your dream_

_Just sleep peacefully_

 

" _Just sleep here with me..._ " Bog ended his singing in a gentle whisper. 

With a smile he had watched Marianne the whole time, how she tried to stay awake during the song. But her eyes had become heavier and heavier and as soon as Bog had started to stroke her hair tenderly, she had fallen fast asleep. Seems his voice wasn't that horrible in the end. Carefully, he lifted the Fairy from his lap into his arms and stood up from the windowsill.

Now, what to do with her? He could carry her back into her room, but to be honest he was too tired himself to walk all the way. Besides, she could awake and may be still too afraid to sleep alone. For minutes the Goblin prince pondered, until he made a decision. With a deep sigh he climbed into his bed, Marianne still in his arms.

 _Just this one time_ , he thought. 

Before Bog laid down, he took one of his big pillows and put it on his chest, so that she was comfortable. Then he covered her with the blanket and secured her with one arm, so that she wouldn't slide off of him. A sleepy murmur was audible from her, before she cuddled deeper into the pillow and clutched the two plush toys closer to her. He had to chuckle softly at that, before he closed his eyes to return to his sleep. Now he really hoped, he wouldn't crush Marianne during the night.

 

* * *

 

To his relief, Bog didn't crush Marianne in their sleep. However, the way they were awakened was not as pleasant as the surprisingly comfortable slumber with the Fairy princess in his arms. His mother had come in loudly, worried because she had found Marianne's room to be empty and wanted to inform him. But as soon as the gobliness saw that she was safe with her son, she couldn't stop for minutes to gush about how sweet that was. While Bog covered his face with his hands in annoyance and slight embarrassment, Marianne was grumpy about being awoken so early.

Of course, his mother couldn't keep quiet about her discovery and told her mate. For the rest of the day, Cedar looked at his son with a grin, but never said a word. Bog didn't know if he should be thankful for that. Those telling grins from his father were almost worse than his blunt teasing.

It seemed that Marianne had grown used to the nights in the Dark Forest, since she never came to his room again in the following week. But Bog on the other hand, tended to wake up in the middle of the night and went to his little friend to check on her. It was this odd feeling of protectiveness. The need to make her feel safe made him restless; unable to relax unless he was sure she was asleep. Whenever he noticed, that she had a rather fretful sleep, he would come in and start to hum his lullaby to her. Bog felt that it was a bit corny to call this his own personal lullaby only for the Fairy princess, but it always helped her to find a peaceful sleep, so he wouldn't complain.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original song is german named [Prinzessin from the band Schandmaul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCQontnB6Ms), the english lyrics are from [here.](http://lyricstranslate.com/en/prinzessin-princess.html)


	6. We will Rock You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, at first I want to apologize for the two months wait for a new chapter. Either I had a writers block or was too occupied with other stories. :'D  
> Anyway, after exactly 3 months since I have this story in my draft, I can finally post it. And yeah, I'm so damn creative and always use the song name for chapter titles. |D
> 
> Song is [We will Rock You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk) from Queen.
> 
> Here is a [visual ref for Tytos. ](http://cedar-king.tumblr.com/tagged/Tytos)
> 
> Thanks to MagicalStranger13 for Beta-Reading

It was now the sixth day of Marianne's visit in the Dark Forest, and Bog could admit he was having the best time of his life. They spent their time either exploring the castle, or sitting somewhere and talking about their respective kingdoms and people, with Bog being the one to talk the most, since Marianne was far more interested in listening. Because the little Fairy hadn't had much schooling yet, they established that the Goblin prince should help her in learning to write, read, and do some simple mathematics. Marianne stated that she had much more fun learning with him, than with her teacher. Bog playfully countered that that must meant he wasn't very good at teaching.

Sadly, Marianne wasn't the only one who had to further her education.

Contrary to popular Fairy belief about Goblins, they did indeed have schools and as the prince, Bog had his own personal teacher. It was none other than the forest's head-scholar and leader of the Knowledge-Tribe, Tytos; an Owl-Goblin. He was a very old fellow, who had taught Bog's grandmother, but was still more than happy to teach the next generation of the Dark Forest‘s future ruler. However, due to his owl nature, Tytos was only available at night and in the morning, which forced Bog to go to bed sooner, so he could greet his teacher in the very early morning hours.

Unfortunately, this meant that Marianne would have to spend some time without him. The evening was no problem; she could stay in her room and play with Bella and Pip. But she’d complained, that she didn't want to spent the morning alone as well. At first, Bog wanted to ask his mother to take care of her, but she would be out obtaining a few important healing ingredients she didn't trust anyone else with. So, he had to take the other option and ask his father, who happily agreed to play babysitter for the Fairy girl.

So there was Bog in the late afternoon, the day before Tytos would arrive, listing off to his father a few things he _had_ to know about Marianne. It shouldn't have taken longer than a minute, but he was already walking for almost _ten_ , back and forth in front of the throne, deep in his monologue, while his father watched him from his seat with a _very_ amused smile.

"...her wings sometimes hurt, ye should rub her back then to ease the pain. Make sure she doesn't eat anything with caffeine in it, she goes totally crazy when she has that stuff down-"

"Bog." Cedar tried to get his son’s attention, but he just went on.

"-believe me, ye _don't_ wanna see her in that state! And do me a favor and make sure she won't get dirty. It's no fun to convince her to take a bath, and mother already said it's hard to get those Fairy clothes clean again-"

"Bog!" This time the Goblin King was louder, and finally made his son stop rambling.

"What?" he asked, confused and slightly angry about the interruption. 

"Would ye cut down yer mother-henning a bit?" The smile only grew wider when his son started to stutter. "A don't have to remind ye, that A'm far older than ye, and that A know how to take care of a child. After all, A raised ye. Besides, it's only for a few hours, and ye aren’t going that far away."

The Goblin prince set his jaw, before he retorted:

"The fact ye raised me is the _reason_ why A‘m telling ye all this. A know ye."

Ignoring the fake hurt expression his father made, Bog rubbed a hand over his face.

"Marianne already gets me in all sorts of trouble. A don't need ye to put more bees in her bonnet."

"Nah, those were just a few, innocent pranks. That's simply how kids have fun, Bog. Ye can learn a lot from her in that regard."

Bog only growled in annoyance, so Cedar tried to convince him of the truthfulness of the statement.

"Ye can't tell me that Griswald's face wasn't priceless when ye two dropped that bucket of mud on his head, right?"

It was clear that the young Goblin tried to bite back a grin with only marginal success. Besides their exploring and talking, the young heirs had indeed practiced a few pranks, mostly on behalf of the princess. It never was something that could hurt anybody, but their victims still weren't very pleased with them.

"A really can't deny that." But then Bog sighed. "The downside is that he comes after us, every time we cross his path now. A'm sure A will have to run from him for the rest of my life."

"Then A will have a word with him. Don't want to discourage you two from having some fun." Cedar said with a wink, which made Bog only huff. "And don't worry about me giving Marianne any ideas. The girl is creative enough _without_ me giving her any input. We‘ll only have a small, innocent chat while ye are studying."

"By the spirits, A really hope so." Bog said with a long sigh, and Cedar chuckled.

"Ye really have that little faith in yer old man?" When his son only looked deadpanned at this question, he snorted and shook his head. "Okay, don't answer that."

The Goblin King leaned back into his throne and looked up to the sky-light, which showed that the afternoon was slowly morphing into the evening.

"Better ye get something to eat and than prepare for tomorrow morning. A'm sure ye want to be done with Tytos as soon as possible."

"Will do that." Bog said after he too, had looked up to see what time it was, and now hurried out of the throne room. But he turned around again and gave his father a pleading look. Before he could utter a word, his father raised his hands in surrender. 

"A promise, A won't give her more ideas of pranks or any kind of hoaxes." 

"That's all A ask for." The prince nodded in thanks and was gone.

Cedar snorted in amusement, as soon as he was alone. It was really adorable to see how overprotective Bog already was over the Fairy princess, and what kind of things he did to please her. Even when his son didn't openly say it, he enjoyed all the jests he made with her, but for some silly reason, he wanted this facade of the ‘serious prince‘ to remain in place.

Oh well, at least they had their fun. For now, Cedar mused about what he would do the next morning with Marianne. After all, he had only promised not to _talk_ about new pranks with her...

 

* * *

 

The next morning started out rather dull for the King of the Dark Forest. He sat in his office, looking over some paperwork that was too important to let Bog deal with alone, grinding his teeth in annoyance. Cedar was convinced that he would never die of old age, or from a wound in a fight, but of _boredom_ while sitting in here! Luckily, his rescue soon came in the form of the Fairy princess, who entered his office after soflty knocking on the door.

"Good morning, my little Lady." Cedar greeted her with a big smile. "Hope ye slept well?"

She nodded with a still sleepy smile.

"Yep, I think I got used to sleeping here now.......makes it more stupid that I have to go soon."

A yawn interrupted her, and he gave her a sympathetic smile. It really was a shame the she had to go back to her kingdom the day after tomorrow.

"What are you doing there?" Marianne asked, pointing at his desk.

"A'm going over a few letters. It's a real nuisance." Cedar grumbled, and tried to sort the papers, when she started to giggle.

"Bog always says you are too lazy to something like that!" she explained to him.

Cedar snorted.

"Lazy is the wrong word for it. A just have different priorities. Paperwork doesn't help ma people nor protect them. Being _out_ is much more important."

The Fairy princess studied the big Goblin for a few seconds before she spoke up again.

"My father does it different. He spends all day long in his study or in the conference room to talk with the councils."

The Goblin King made a face at that.

"That sounds extremely dull."

Cedar had collected all papers by then, and opened his drawer to deposit them there.

"And _boring_." he stated with a glance at her and closed the drawer.

Marianne only shrugged.

"I think that, too. But papa said that's how things are done, and that I will learn to do it the same way when I'm older."

It was obvious that she wasn't so keen on that prospect, and Cedar could more than understand.

"Not when ye change the rules. Ye will be Queen, and as long as ye do things that benefit yer people and they don’t harm anyone, ye can do it any way you want. That's the cool thing about being a Queen or King." he said with an encouraging grin, which made the princess giggle.

"When you talk about it, it sounds much nicer than when my father does. He talks so long and uses complicated words."

Cedar huffed at that.

"A can imagine. Yer father doesn't strike me as the type to have much fun with." To his confirmation Marianne shook her head. "Well, then consider yerself lucky, since A'm surely much more fun than him."

With those words, Cedar stood up from his chair and scooped the little Fairy up into his arms, who squeaked gleefully. That was when he noticed, that the pockets of her lilac dress were chock-full of cookies. A sly grin spread on his face.

"Oh, taking advantage of ma wife and son being out and occupied? How devious of ye, yer highness!"

Sheepishly. Marianne smiled at him. At first she nodded, but then shook her head.

"They‘re not only for me. I got some for Bog, too; as a reward for working hard."

The Goblin King had to bite back a gushing sound at that, and his grin just got wider.

"That's very nice of ye. A'm sure Bog will be very happy."

"You think so?" she asked him with big eyes, and he nodded, which caused her to make a loud cheer.

Now he _had_ to laugh, but as he walked out of his study, he tilted his head a bit.

"Say, would ye share one with me, too?"

"No!" Marianne said firmly, but with a sweet smile.

Puzzled, Cedar raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because you rile up Bog a lot, and that's not nice! And when you are not nice, you don't get cookies." 

Cedar couldn't do much else, but stare agape for a few seconds at the Fairy in his arms, before he tried to defend himself.

"A don't rile him up, A'm just teasing. That's healthy for him."

"But he doesn't like it." she pouted and crossed her arms.

He just snorted.

"Many things ye don't like are good for ye. Believe me, when ye are older, ye‘ll understand." 

Marianne frowned at him.

"I hate that I always get told that I‘ll understand when I'm older! For that, your chance of getting a cookie is even lower!"

"Oh, come one!" Cedar whined, and looked pleadingly at the princess. "A was just joking. Please, Marianne. A promise A won't tease Bog that much anymore. Just one cookie!"

But Marianne was adamant, and so Cedar had to give up on his begging.

When they reached the throne room, he made a pout, which succeeded in making her giggle.

"Okay, little Lady.“ He grinned. “Any wishes as to what we should do until Bog is finished with his studying?"

Marianne scrunched her face into a thoughtful expression, before she grinned right back at Cedar.

"I have a few ideas."

 

* * *

 

Bog impatiently tapped his fingers on the table, as his teacher Tytos paced in front of him, deep into his lecture.

Tytos was a very rare breed of Bird-Goblin, more precisely an Owl; a _Barn_ -Owl. His upper body was covered in white, fuzzy feathers, the rest were light brown, which were so smooth, one could mistake it for fur. His arms and legs were leathery and brown, with a few green scales. Even when he was an Owl, he had no wings to use, only five big feathers that served as some kind of cape and could also help to slow down a fall. The only thing he wore was a pince-nez on his beak.

The current lecture was about some kind of historical event that happened some thousand years ago. Bog didn't really know, he had stopped listening completely a few minutes ago. History was normally one of his favorite topics, and he was always eager to listen to Tytos, but not today. And Bog knew the reason: He preferred to spend the time he still had, with Marianne. But as prince, he had a duty to learn, and not dwell on playing around with his Fairy friend....even if he wasn't listening anymore.

So lost in his thoughts, Bog didn't notice how Tytos had stopped with his lecture and was now standing right beside him.

"If the current subject bores you, maybe we should change it, your highness."

Later, Bog would be proud of himself for not jumping out of his chair and instead, only being slightly startled at the close and sudden proximity of his teacher. With a deep breath, he calmed himself and looked to the elder Goblin in apology.

"A'm sorry, Tytos. A...A was not really here with my thoughts."

"That I gathered." he said, bemused and folded his arms behind his back, while he walked back to his table.

With a sigh, he turned back to his student.

"As adorable as this is..."

Bog muttered something in embarrassment.

"...it really doesn't help your lessons. Perhaps we should reschedule the tuition for when the Fairy princess _isn't_ here in the castle?"

"No, that won't be necessary! A don't want to cause any inconvenience for-"

But Bog couldn't finish his sentence, since Tytos raised his forefinger to indicate silence. He appreciated that the prince was concerned about causing trouble; always such a polite young boy.

"It's no inconvenience, when I suggest it. I have no strict schedule myself, so I can come whenever I please. Besides, you really should use all the fun time you have with a friend. You surely have neglected that in the last few years." Tytos said in a bemused hooting.

Again, Bog only muttered something under his breath, but he nodded.

The Owl-Goblin slightly tilted his head before he continued.

"Of course, I _would_ like you to do me a favor for this."

Confused, the young Goblin raised a brow.

"What kind of favor?"

The wide smile on Tytos's face was only visible through his beady eyes.

"Introduce me to the Fairy princess."

 

* * *

 

It was an unusual request, but Bog already had imagined that Tytos would want to meet Marianne, since he had asked about her when he‘d arrived. His teacher was a very curious creature, even for his age, and he surely wouldn't pass on the opportunity to meet a Fairy royal.

Currently, they were walking through the corridors of the castle. When Bog and Tytos came closer to the throne room, the Goblin prince could hear stomping, clapping, and the singing voices of several other Goblins. Bewildered, he raised an eyebrow, but since he wanted to check if his father and Marianne were in there, he continued to the door and opened it without any announcement, his teacher still behind him.

What he saw, made his _other_ eyebrow go up.

Several Goblins stood in a semicircle around Cedar and Marianne, who were facing each other and both grinning. For a second, it looked like the typical gathering for a brawl, but the stomping of the Goblins was too rhythmic for simply egging them on; and besides, his father would never ever even think about harming the Fairy princess, who didn't even reach his knee. 

Still, Bog wondered what this was all about, when his father suddenly started to sing:

_Buddy you're a girl make a big noise_   
_Playin' in the street gonna be a big woman some day_   
_You got mud on yo' face_   
_You big disgrace_   
_Kickin' your can all over the place_

Cedar walked with heavy footsteps towards Marianne, and bent down to poke her nose. She giggled gleefully and also started to stomp and clap. The King straightened up again and pointed with a big grin to his Goblins, and Marianne joined in their refrain.

_Singin'_

_We will we will rock you_   
_We will we will rock you_

It was amazing how the bright, but still strong, voice of the little Fairy stuck out from the deep growls of the Goblins.

So far, Bog had remained at the door, watching the events with a befuddled expression. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tytos just slightly moving his body in time with the beat.

In the second he _wasn't_ looking at the group, his father spotted him. With a grin that was full of self-satisfaction, he walked towards his son, and leaned down, so that when he reached him, they were eye-level.

_Buddy you're a young man hard man_   
_Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day_   
_You got blood on yo' face_   
_You big disgrace_   
_Wavin' your banner all over the place_

Cedar made several hand gestures and nudged Bog's shoulder playfully, which made the prince feel mocked. Of course, this was just meant to be all in good fun from his father, but the smug expression made Bog’s blood boil, and not for the first time. There was no real ill will Bog felt for his father, it was just his instinct to get angry at this blatant display of taunting towards his person, especially in front of Marianne.

_We will we will rock you_

At first, his father waited for a counter from his son, but as Bog only continued staring angrily at him, he just shrugged and turned around to walk back to the Goblins and the Fairy.

_Sing it!_

However, this time Marianne  _didn't_ sing along with the Goblins, but looked rather concerned at her friend.

_We will we will rock you_

Bog still had an inner tumult about what to do. Should he simply ignore his father's taunt, and keep his countenance, or go for the counterattack he had on his tongue? He surely wouldn't expect him to sing back.

In the end, Bog decided to wipe that grin from his father's face, and stomped after him. His singing was more of a growl and his hand gestures were rather threatening. 

_Buddy you're an old man poor man_   
_Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day_   
_You got mud on your face_   
_Big disgrace_   
_Somebody better put you back into your place_

As soon as the prince sang the first words, the King had stopped and turned around to look at him. The utterly perplexed expression on his face filled Bog with satisfaction. Behind him, he could see the delighted face of Marianne.

_We will we will rock you_

Finally, Cedar found is composure again, and against everything that Bog had expected, he didn't grin or smirk at him, but genuinely smiled in such a happy way that it made him somewhat flustered. What was that about?

But before he could react, his father already had a smirk back on his face and pointed at the Goblins again, while walking to his throne.

_Sing it!_

He snatched his staff from where it was leaning against the throne, and held it like a guitar. Marianne joined the other Goblins in the refrain again.

_We will we will rock you_

With a sweep of his staff, the amber at the top of it started to glow and emitted indeed the sound of a guitar. The Goblins around Cedar grew more enthusiastic and even the Fairy princess seemed to be pretty excited. Before he made another sweep, the King shouted: 

_Everybody!_

He started to play his staff-guitar in a rocking tune. Marianne seemed to be so excited by it, she started to dance around Cedar, still stomping and clapping. The Goblin King laughed at that. 

_We will we will rock you_   
_We will we will rock you_

While still playing his instrument, Cedar started to do some rhythmic steps, so that it looked liked he and the princess were dancing around each other. Finally, with a last sweep, the Goblin King ended this little musical number, and the Goblins in the throne room erupted into cheerful growls. Cedar and Marianne bowed to each other, before they started laughing.

With Tytos in tow, Bog went to them and dismissed the other Goblins on his father's behalf, so that the four were alone in the throne room.

"What was _that_ about?" the young Goblin asked indignantly, after the laughter had died down.

"Well, A think it‘s called singing and having some fun." Cedar chuckled and took a deep breath.

Marianne in the meantime, had walked towards Bog and hugged his legs with a happy hum, and the Goblin prince immediately started to stroke over her head absently, while still glaring daggers at his father.

"Ye know what A mean." 

"Oh, that little teasing? Nothing more than A usually do, A would say." Cedar crossed his arms and grinned smugly. "And A must say, it was most successful."

"That was on _purpose_? Just to make me _sing_?" Bog asked, incredulous,

He got a nod in answer.

"Since A'm no sweet, little Fairy princess to simply ask ye, A had to use other methods to make ye do it."

Bog stopped stroking and looked accusingly down at Marianne.

"Ye really had to tell him, didn't ye?"

The princess had her face hidden against his leg, but Bog was sure he could hear the sheepish smile in her words.

"I may have mentioned it...by accident."

It was not quite a growl, but he still made an annoyed sound.

"Now, now. No reason to go all grumpy Bog," Cedar said in a chiding tone and then smiled widely at his son. "A, for one, am very grateful that she did. Never thought A would get the chance to hear ye sing."

Cedar's voice had grown so soft at the last words, that Bog actually started to blush and look away, flustered. He knew that his father always wanted to hear him sing, but Bog never felt any reason to do so. He never wanted to impress or intimidate anyone, and surely he hadn't wanted to sing his feelings out. That was reserved for the Fairies.

Still, this genuinely happy reaction from his father was very...surprising, in a nice way.

Bog shook himself out of his embarrassed state, when he heard Marianne gasping and clutching his leg tighter.

"Is that an Owl?" she whispered, slightly afraid, and it took him several seconds to register that she was referring to Tytos, who still stood behind Bog, waiting patiently.

"Aye, he is an Owl-Goblin." Bog smiled as he turned around and took a step to the side, so that Marianne wasn't hidden anymore behind his legs, and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "He is ma teacher, and he wants to meet ye. Don't be afraid, he won't bite ye."

With big eyes, that were now full of wonder instead of fear, Marianne watched how Tytos went to his knees in front of her and gave a respectful bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Marianne. My name is Tytos, Leader of the Knowledge-Tribe and teacher to the children of the Dark Forest."

"You know my name?" Marianne asked, surprised and Tytos hooted amused.

"I think most Goblins know of you by now. The news of the alliance with your people spread around quite fast." he explained and then shot Cedar a look, whereupon the Goblin King only shrugged nonchalantly.

During that short exchange, Marianne had come closer to Tytos and examined his body.

"Are those really feathers? They look more like fur."

"They are often confused as such. But I can assure you, they are indeed feathers."

"Can I touch them?" she asked very nicely.

At first, Tytos blinked at her in surprise, but then a smile was visible in his eyes, and he opened his arms, so that she had access to his chest feathers.

Gently, Marianne patted over the small feathers, before she let out a delighted squeak.

"They‘re so fluffy!" And with that, she was hugged Tytos and buried her face in his chest. 

The Owl-Goblin was so taken aback by this action that he almost felt backwards, but he managed to hold his posture, and with a laugh, he wrapped his arms around her.

"Now look at that. I get hugged by a Fairy princess. Can you believe it?" he asked in delight, and stood up, holding Marianne close to him, which made her hum happily.

"She really is like a wee spider monkey." Bog said, amused. "No idea if it‘s a Fairy thing or simply her wanting to hug anybody who isn't out of her way in three seconds."

"Oh, I would say it's a mix of typical children behavior and her own character." Tytos said in a matter-of-fact voice, before he had that delighted tone again. "This is such a big historical event. I think this is the best day of my life!"

"If this goes on like that, he‘ll die from a heart-attack." Cedar murmured.

Both he and Bog had to stifle a laugh. Marianne laughed _outright_ , mostly because of Tytos' reaction, and leaned back to look at him.

"You‘re Bog's teacher, right? Is he a good student?"

"Oh, he normally is, indeed. Very good listener, and always eager to learn about history." He glanced than a smug smile to the prince. "Just not today. He was very...distracted."

Sobering up from his quiet laughter, Bog cleared his throat and walked to the Owl-Goblin and the princess.

"Okay, you got yer chance to meet her, Tytos. A'm sure ye have to go soon, and that ye’ll want to talk to ma father before ye leave. We‘ll leave ye alone then."

Maybe Bog only imagined it, but he could swear that Tytos' ears hung a little lower, when he handed Marianne over to him. In an instant, the arms of the princess were wound around his neck and she nuzzled her cheek against his chin. 

"Very well." Tytos said, who seemed happy again at this touching sight. "I will contact you with the new dates for my visits. We have a lot to catch up on from today."

"A'm fine with that." Bog said, and was barely flustered by Marianne's nuzzling; he’d slowly gotten used to it.

With a final nod, he took his leave, but not before Marianne waved goodbye to Tytos.

"Bye uncle Tytos!"

"Goodbye Princess." He called after them, and chuckled.

"Should A fetch a healer for ye? A doubt yer old heart can take so much adorableness and excitement in one day." Cedar commented with a grin when the children left.

"Funny as always Cedar." the Owl-Goblin hooted, amused. "Do you even understand what the princess’s little actions mean?"

"That she is a very sweet girl?" Cedar answered bemused, since he had no clue what his friend was driving at.

Tytos sighed in exaggeration.

"That's what you get for not listening to me during _your_  lessons."

The Goblin King waved his hand dismissively at him.

"Well, then enlighten me  _now_."

Cedar got another look from Tytos, before he started to explain:

"You do know that the Kingdom of the Fairies and the Goblins was never on good terms, correctt? We haven‘t had a peaceful interaction in 2000 years, _especially_  a _friendly_ one. I doubt that there was _ever_ a Fairy who hugged a Goblin, let alone a princess of _theirs_ hugging a prince of _ours_! And they obviously like each other. Do you have any idea what historical impact this will have? There had been pacts of trading between our kingdoms before, but very simple ones. With the future Fairy Queen and Goblin King as friends the chances are high as never before, that we could have a fleshed out _partnership_ with the Fairies."

Cedar had taken a step away from Tytos at this point, since the teacher tended to wave his around animatedly when he spoke about such things. Cedar’s baffled look was obvious; it hadn't occurred to him that this was so much more important on the aspect of history itself.

“And don't forget the fact that this arrangement includes that they maybe become mates in the future." Cedar added, carefully.

At that comment, Tytos made a weird screeching sound that could be described as delighted.

" _That_  could be a major biological milestone! We still don't know, if Fairies and Goblins are even compatible in that matter. And an alliance formed by love is even more secure! Ohhh, the possibilities of how this all could play out!"

On one hand, Cedar was still very perplexed, but on the other, he was very entertained by Tytos reaction. He had never seen that old Goblin so excited, he appeared to be almost 50 years younger. But if he went on like this, the chances were actually high that Tytos could get some bad aftereffects. So Cedar put a hand on his shoulder, to stop him in his rambling. 

"Alright, A get it that ye are thrilled to no end to be part of such big events, but it would be nice to see ye survive to see the end of it, okay?"

At first, it looked like Tytos fluffed himself up a the King’s words, but he calmed down and deflated with a deep sigh.

"You are right. I should keep myself in check. Nothing is set in stone, and I simply _have_ to observe how it will go on."

With a pleased hum, Cedar patted him on the shoulder.

"That's ma owl. A would hate to have to look for a new teacher for Bog, and the princess surely would be heartbroken!"

They both chuckled, before Tytos expression grew a bit more serious.

"As nice as this is...I really hope you won't have much trouble from the other Tribal Chiefs for forming this alliance without consulting us, especially Daric. You know how much he despises the Fairies, and a lot of Goblins share his opinion."

Cedar only snorted at that.

"Pah, I'm still the King here, and A don't need to consult ye guys for every decision A make. No offense Tytos, but yer job is simply to take care of yer parts of the Forest and come to me, when there are any major problems." He then ground his teeth. "And as for Daric...he can throw a tantrum all he wants, I won't budge because of him. He actually should be thankful. This alliance still has chances to fail in some way or another. Then his Battle-Tribe would be happy to have a war with the Fairies!"

"Please Cedar, don't jinx it! That's the exact opposite of what we want." Tytos warned him, and Cedar’s ittiration died down. 

"A know. That stupid bat just gets on ma nerves with his bigoted attitude." he said with an annoyed growl.

"I agree to that. He really is a problem, but I'm sure that you will manage to keep him in check, as always." Tytos tried to encourage.

Cedar sighed deeply.

"A hope you are right."

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, the children had made it to Bog's room.

As usual, Bog was very tired after his lessons with Tytos, even if they were much shorter this time. Gently, he set Marianne down at the edge of his bed, before he dropped onto it himself, with his face down into the leafy pillow. He ignored Marianne's giggles and only stirred when he felt how she moved to his side......then he caught the smell of his favorite cookies. 

Slowly he tilted his head a bit, so that he could peek one eye at her and see that indeed, she was holding a cookie in front of his face. 

"Wha-? How did ye-?" he asked surprised, and sat up so that he was kneeling, while Marianne sat cross-legged in front of him. 

"I snuck into the kitchen before I went to your papa. It's much easier when your mama isn't around." she explained with a giggle.

Bog raised a brow reproachfully. 

"Mom won't be happy about that."

"Well, she doesn't have to know. Besides, I'm sure she won't be angry with me when I tell her that I got them for both of us."

Now, he blinked in perplextion at his little friend.

"Ye...Ye really want to share them with me?"

Marianne's grin grew even wider.

"Of course! As reward because you studied so hard."

"Well, A actually didn't really...." he muttered and scratched is neck, but she only rolled her eyes.

"Then as a thank you for teaching me. Now take it-" she began to withdraw the sweet she’d been holding towards him. "-or I will eat them all myself."

"Fine, fine!"

Before she could take the cookie away completely, he grabbed it carefully from her and stuffed it in his mouth right away. 

"Good Goblin." she praised him with a giggle, which made him roll his eyes. Marianne then took another cookie from her pockets and started to nibble on it. Bog had barely swallowed his cookie when she held another in front of his nose. 

"Thank ye." he said with a smile and accepted it.

This time, he didn't eat the whole cookie at once, but instead took just a single bite. Marianne hummed happily and focused her attention on her own cookie.

While they were munching, Bog regarded Marianne thoughtfully. He may have gotten used to her hugging by now, but he surely would _never_ get over this warm feeling in his chest whenever she showed affection towards him, or surprised him with nice gestures like this. Was this what a friendship felt like? It had only been a week, but Bog already couldn‘t imagine a life without a friend, without Marianne. He had no idea how what he felt into words, other than to simply describe it as being happy. Bog was so glad she had come into his life, and he hoped she would never go away. It was a selfish thought, but he allowed himself to have it in the privacy of his mind. 

"So, tell me. What did ye and father do all that time? Besides talking about me and singing." Bog asked Marianne after they had eaten a few more cookies.

She grinned sheepishly at him.

"Oh, not much. He actually told me a few funny stories about you."

"Did he now." he grimaced, but tried to smile. "And...what _exactly_ did he tell ye?"

"Oh, this and that. Is it really true that you flew into a spiderweb once?" she asked him with a mischievous expression.

Bog groaned and let himself fall back into the pillows.

"That was my first flight! Besides, those webs are really hard to see when it's dark!"

"Suuuuuuure, but I’m positive that wouldn't have happened to me." she giggled, having to clutch her belly.

"Oh yeah? A wanna see how well ye do the first time _ye_  fly." Bog stated in a challenging tone and started to tickle her.

This only made her shriek and laugh even more as she tried to escape from him.

After they were done chasing and tickling each other, Marianne told him more about the things she did with his father. Bog was lying comfortably on his back, exhausted from getting up so early this morning and frolicking around, he slowly drifted off to sleep without even realizing it.

When he woke up again, it was already the afternoon. With a yawn, he wanted to stretch himself, but he noticed Marianne cuddling into his side, taking a nap.

Immediately, he went still, not wanting to wake her, nor scratch her with his scales. However, it didn't seemed that she minded his scales, for she simply cuddled closer to him and clutched at his side.

Bog let out an amused huff and settled back into the bed. Gently, he started to stroke through her hair, listening to the happy, sleepy murmurs she made from time to time. He didn't fall asleep again, but simply enjoyed this quiet moment cuddled together with his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I have a thing for ending chapters with those two cuties being asleep. xD
> 
> Btw, I also wanted to thank secretsivekept for their [wonderful fanart](http://secretsivekept.tumblr.com/post/150170840643/cleaned-up-version-for-pikuna-d) they did for me and that gave me the motivation boost to finally finish this chapter.


	7. Listen to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After more than three months comes the new chapter, I'm so, so, so sorry for that delay. ;w;  
> I really hope the content of the chapter will make up for this. xD
> 
> Marianne meets some new Goblins and Bog and his father have a little argument.

"Please."

"No."

"Please, please!"

"No and no!"

"Very pretty please?"

"Yer pleases can be as pretty as ye want, A say no!"

Peeved about Bog not giving in to her pleads, Marianne plunked herself down on the floor of the corridor they were currently walking through and crossed her arms defiantly.

"Why can't we go out into the forest?" she groused with a whine. Bog stopped in his track and turned around with rolling eyes. 

" _A told ye_ , it's too dangerous for ye out there. Ye cannot fight and not even fly away, should something happen." He now stood before her, having his hands on his hips, tapping with his foot and giving her a warning glare. "Now get up from the floor or do ye want to spent the rest of the day here?"

"I might just do that," she said with a pouting expression. With an irritated sigh the prince closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Marianne had asked him several times over the week to go out and play in the forest. But she always let the subject drop, when he had told her no. But it seemed that on her last day she didn't want to budge until they would do what she wanted. Bog hated to argue with her, especially since she would be gone this evening, but the forest really was no place for a flightless Fairy girl like her.

He was thinking about a way to make her understand, when she spoke up again, this time with a much more soft and pleading voice. "Please Bog. You have promised to me, that you would show me more from the forest."

Actually Bog should have known better, but he still made the mistake to open his eyes and look at his little friend. Was that a Fairy thing or how could she make her eyes grew so big? The slightly tilted head, the trembling lips and the watery eyes almost made him cave in, but he made a last attempt of staying steadfast.

"Aye, A did. But A never said when. As soon as ye are able to fly, we can consider it."

Marianne sensed that he was wavering, so she decided to make another move. She got up from her sitting position and hugged Bog's leg, looking up to him. 

"Pleeeeaaaseeee. I will promise to be very careful. We don't have to go out for long, just looking around a bit."

Grinding his teeth Bog tried to muster the words to object, but the way she looked at him was so unfair! How could he say no, knowing that she would probably sad afterwards? Snarling angrily at himself, he looked up at the ceiling. "Fine, we will go out."

"YAY!" the Fairy princess cheered, but before she could utter another word, he interjected. 

" _Only_ when ye will follow three rules." He crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Rule one: Ye will do exactly as A tell ye. Rule two: Ye never will go out of ma sight. And rule three: Ye won't touch anything ye don't know. Understood?" He had help up a finger every time he had listed a rule and now hold up three fingers. Marianne nodded eagerly and clasped her hands.

"Understood!" Pleased with her agreeing to the rules and happy about her excitement Bog smiled. He wriggled his fingers in front of her face, before he poked her with one on the nose. She made that squeaky laughing sound he had started to like.

"Alright. Then let's head out before anyone notices we are gone." he said, picked Marianne up and started to fly to the exit. Walking would take too much time and he would be more at ease when he could carry her around. 

"Would your mommy be mad when she knew we go into the forest?" she asked after they were in the air. Bog made a wry smile.

"Not her, but ma father."

The Fairy princess scrunched her face. He guessed it was hard for her to imagine the Cedar King to be mad, especially at him or her. But Bog knew better. It was rare, but really not a nice experience when his father got angry.

 

* * *

 

When they flew outside, Bog stayed close to the castle at first, not that Marianne minded it. She was fascinated with all the plants and wildlife they encountered on their little tour and she had only gotten a little glimpse of when he brought her to the castle a week ago. Especially the sentient mushrooms were the source of a lot of questions.

Why can they speak?

What do they eat?

Do Goblins eat them?

Do they need to leave their post to relieve oneself?

Since she liked a lot of the darker flowers, which didn't exist in her kingdom, Bog made himself the mental note to show her the moonflower field, when she was able to fly on her own. 

They were almost two hours outside now, stopping here and there to watch and Bog giving explanations to Marianne. It was becoming late afternoon and he didn't want to be gone too long to get missed, because he didn't know when the Goblin caravan, with which Marianne had to go with, moved out to the Light Fields. The prince was about to suggest their return, when he heard some ruckus behind a few bushes they were just passing. He stopped midair and the Fairy in his arms looked up at him confused.

"Bog? Is something wrong?"

After a few seconds of silent pondering he shook his head to hear question and then smiled at her.

"When A remember right, ye wanted to make friends with some Goblin kids, aye?"

Marianne made an affirmative noise and nodded. His smile grew wider.

"Well, what do ye say to start with that now?" Bog had to hold back a laugh at Marianne's excited gasp and her heavy nodding.

"Okay, then we will meet some now. And remember, just be yerself."

They flew over the bushes and reached a small clearing that laid at a calm stream. At the shore of the stream were stones of different sizes and shapes and formed some kind of ring. In this ring were two Goblin children fighting, one big and bulky one and the other having similarities to a lanky, bipedal frog. Six more Goblin kids sat on the stones and cheered to the fighting ones. 

Bog landed on a stone that was higher than most others and was in the back of the other Goblins. He let Marianne down, but beckoned her to be silent. Confused she tilted her head, but didn't say a word and hide behind his legs to watch the fight below them.

The big one tried to grab the smaller one, but he just jumped to the site and slashes with his claws at the arm of his opponent. A howl of pain and a punch in the guts was the result of this attack and the frog-Goblin hit a stone with his back. Coughing from the loss of air, he managed to get back on his feet, just in time before the bulky Goblin could ram him. The small Goblin evaded this move by springing behind the big one to attack his back, but the big one simply let himself drop backwards on top off the small one. Trying to use all his strength to get away from under his opponent, he groaned and wriggled, but it was no use.

“Are you giving up?” asked another Goblin, a small chubby one, who seemed to act a referee.

The small Goblin grumbled and stopped in his struggles. “Fine, I give up. Now get up from me Brutus!” he demanded. With a wide, satisfied grin the big Goblin Brutus got up again. The other Goblins came from their bleachers and either congratulated Brutus or helped the other one up.

Marianne was still hiding behind Bog’s legs, fascinated by the ruckus below them and eager to join in. She looked up to her friend and was about to ask when they would go down to them, when she saw the grin Bog was giving her. Then he addressed the Goblin youths.

“Not bad Lace, but ye still didn’t listen to me. Ye’r attacking far too aggressive to beat a Brute Goblin like Brutus.”

Most of the smaller Goblins yelped when Bog had suddenly spoken, but they all rejoiced when they sighted the Prince.

“BK!” they all cheered and came closer to the stone he was standing on. But they all stopped dead in their track, when Marianne peered from behind Bog’s legs.

“What is that?” asked a Goblin with a hunch and a mole-like snout.

“It’s not what, but who,” Bog scolded him, before he picked up Marianne and landed with her before the group of Goblins. “This is Marianne, she is the Fairy princess of the Light Fields. Say hello Marianne.”

“Hello guys.” The young Fairy waved and smiled a bit shyly at them. The Goblins didn’t respond and only looked baffled. Her face turned into a little grimace and then she looked unsure to Bog, who gave her an reassuring smile.

“They’ve never seen a Fairy before,” he whispered to her.

“Are they afraid of me?” she whispered back, but before he could, a Goblin with a beak and floppy ears answered first.

“Why should we be afraid of a Fairy?” Marianne glared at the Goblin for his scoffing tone when he spoke the word Fairy.

“Why shouldn’t you?” was the immediate retort from her, which baffled the Goblins even more and made Bog smirk.

“Because Fairies aren’t scary,” answered the Goblin who Bog had called Lace and the others murmured agreeing.

Marianne gave Bog to understand that she wanted down, so he set her down on the floor. With confident steps she went to the Goblins and stopped in front of them with her hands on her hips.

“Maybe we don’t look scary, but I have a very mean glare and when you don’t behave yourself, I will use it,” she warned them and already gave them her mean glare again. This time some of the little Goblins even backed up one step. But then Bog cleared his throat and Marianne dropped her glare with an apologetic grin.

“But I don’t want to scare you. So what about we become friends?” she asked bluntly and held her hand out towards them. All the Goblins looked at their prince, asking with their expressions if the Fairy was serious. Bog gave them a nod and waved encouraging in Marianne’s direction. They still were unsure about what to and looked all at each other. Marianne was about to drop her hand with a sullen expression, when one of the small Goblins stepped forward and took her hand carefully.

“The name is Stuff your highness,” said the small, chubby Goblin with fin-like ears and bowed even slightly. Marianne smiled delighted.

“Hello Stuff, it’s nice to meet you. And you can call me just Marianne.” Stuff returned the smiled and shook her hand a bit more, before she dropped it and then waved the other Goblins to them.

A bit reluctantly the other Goblins came closer, first of all the Goblin with the mole-snout and another one with a trunk as nose, who both stepped besides Stuff and sniffed a bit at Marianne.

„You smell so….flowery,“ the trunk nose commented, his expression at first puzzled and then full of wonderment, while the other one clapped delighted.  

“Well, my home is full of flowers, so I guess this is normal,” Marianne answered and the two made some funny noises that should be laughter, too. Each one of them took on of her hands and shook it.

"My name is Korks," said the Mole-Goblin, who's voice was rather nasal. 

"And I am Romp," introduced the Goblin with the trunk himself. 

"Hello Korks and Romp. You two look really funny," Marianne said and let go of their hands to poke both their noses. They squinted surprised, but then started to giggle together with her, luckily not being offended by her words. 

When they went aside, the Goblin with the beak was next and he fumbled a bit with his hands.

“Ah, hello princess. My name is Fos. Uh, sorry when I was a bit mean before,” he apologized and looked rather sheepishly.

“Oh, that is okay Fos. I was rather mean too, so we are fine,” she smiled at him and Fos returned that smile, even when it was more hesitant.

Next were two Goblins with heavy upper-body and strong arms they used to support said body. They looked a bit grimly, but Marianne simply looked between them and then smiled.

“Are you two brothers?”

The two looked a bit surprised, before the more green one answered. “Uh, yes we are. This is Remus….” “..and this is Romulus. We are actually twins,” finished the other one with the more earthier tones.

“Cool, you finish each other’s sentences!” the young Fairy said and giggled. The brother’s looked perplexed at each other, before Lace pushed past them and walked towards Marianne.

With a glare and no words, he held his clawed hand towards her. Marianne stopped with her giggling, because of his aggressive face. Carefully she took his hand and when he shook it, she smiled again.

“You are Lace, right? Your fight was really awesome. I bet you train a lot.” This compliment threw Lace out of his glare and after he cleared his throat, he looked rather pleased.

“Well, a bit. But it's mostly natural talent.” Some of the Goblins snickered around them and now Lace's glare was pointed at them.

The last one was the big Goblin Brutus. This time Marianne went to him and now she could easily say that he was as big as Bog and surely three times as wide. Even with his rather intimidating appearance, he looked rather insecure and seemed to hunch a bit.

"And you're is Brutus, right?" she asks him and he nods. When he mustered a toothy smile, Marianne giggled. "You know, for such a big guy you are somewhat cute." She then proceed to hug his belly, which made him breath in sharply in fearful surprise. But when he realized that this was no attack, Brutus even laughed a bit and petted gently her head. 

The other Goblin youths cheered and now surrounded Marianne. It seemed that their wariness towards this new creature has vanished completely and they were all bombarding her with questions about her kind and lands. Only Remus, Romulus and Lace were standing a bit aside, the twins looking with raised eyebrows at the scenery and Lace only rolling his eyes. 

Bog also stood a bit aside, but his face was full of content happiness. This meeting with the group of young Goblins went so much better than he had expected and he was so relieved that Marianne got along with them so well. She had wished for friends and he was glad he could help her out with that. Everything just to make this little Fairy girl all happy and smile.

 

* * *

 

The Goblin youths continued to bombard Marianne with a lot of questions and the little Fairy didn't mind to answer them all. In return, her new friends showed her a few tricks they could do or games that young Goblins tended to play. The trio of the twins and Lace still didn't really participated in their activities, but they were now standing closer and giving comments from time to time. Bog on the other hand, had resumed his place on the rock where he had landed with Marianne before and watched over the group. Said Fairy had asked him several times to join them, but he always declined with a smile and said that he wasn't one for playing games, a statement that surprised Marianne. He had never minded to play any kind of games with her. 

Only when Lace changed the general topic to fighting, Bog would come from the rock and join the conversation. It turned into a discussion with Lace about some battle stances and while the other Goblins eagerly listened to them, Marianne's attention drifted away. This simply was no topic she had an interest for and so she started to walk away a bit and looking around the stream.

She jumped on a few small rocks and hummed a melody, when her eyes caught something in the corner of her eye. Looking at her right side, she spotted a little black, furry creature with big eyes and a long snout on the other side of the stream. When she tilted her head, it mirrored her movement, which made her giggle. Marianne jumped from the stone she was currently standing on and wanted to get closer to the furry creature. She stopped when she came closer to the water. The streams current was very strong and she couldn't swim in the first place and flying wasn't an option for her yet. Her face got a bit sad, but when she heard squeaks she looked up to see that the creature was jumping over a few stones that stuck out of the water to come to her. Marianne clapped delighted, when it landed in front of her. Even standing up on it's hind legs and pricking up it's ears it wasn't that much bigger than her. 

"Hello," Marianne greeted it and got a chirp as response.

"You are no Goblin, are you?" she asked and the furry creature shook it's head. It then spread it's arms as if to present itself with a wide toothy smile and Marianne laughed.

"I'm Marianne. How is your name?" The furry creature just shrugged. "You don't have a name?" Now it shook it's head. "Can you talk?" Another shake of the head. "Hmm, you are a weird guy." Marianne said and crossed her arms.

Another shrug and then the furry creature started to giggle and made a few acrobatic jumps on the stones. It landed on it's hands and made a squeaking noise that sounded like 'tada!'

The little Fairy clapped amused. "You are funny. I like you," she declared and the furry creature scratched the ground with it's foot and looked bashful. Then it got excited, taking Marianne's head and pulled her towards the water.

"Hey, what are you doing? Be careful!" she said and finally could stop before she got too close to the water. The furry creature jumped up and down and pointed across the stream.

"Do you want to show me something?" Marianne asked and it nodded eagerly. It then jumped on the next stone that stuck out of the water and beckoned her to follow. She hesitated at first, but the furry creature continued to stare at her expectingly and so she gathered up her courage and jumped on the stone, her curiosity bigger than her fear from the water. The problem with the rocks in the stream was that they were much more slippery. Marianne eventually managed to jump over the first three rocks, but when her feet made contact with the fourth one, she lost her footing and with a shriek she fell off into the direction of the water.

Just that she never landed in it, for some hands had grabbed the neck of her clothing and held her over the surface. When her first shock calmed down a bit, Marianne managed to turn around to see that it was Bog who had saved her. He hovered over the stone she had slipped on and his face was full of panic. Quickly he gathered her up in his arms and Marianne practically clung to him, while he flew back to the shore. Once there he carefully sat her down on a rock, so that they were on eye-level and he checked her for any injuries.

"Ye're alright?" Bog asked in a worried tone. Marianne only managed to nod, the shock still very present. Relieved he sighed, but then his face turned into anger. "What were ye doing there in the first place? Didn't ye promise me not to go out of ma sight?"

In the meantime the other Goblins had caught up on them, but since they sensed that the Goblin prince was angry they didn't dare to came too close.

The Fairy princess whimpered and made herself even smaller, while she tried to answer. "I-I'm sorry Bog. T-There was this little furry guy, it wanted to show me something. It j-jumped so easily over the stones, so I thought I could do that to." 

Bog looked into the direction she had pointed at and spotted the furry creature, before it quickly vanished into the bushes. 

"That was an Imp. Cheeky, mischievous creatures, who like to get others into trouble," he explained. Mentally he was a bit puzzled. That Imp clearly had black fur, but weren't they supposed to only have white ones? 

But since this mystery wasn't so important right now he dropped it and looked back at Marianne with an insistent expression. "See? That's why A made ye promise not to wander off alone. Ye have no idea about the things that live here in the Dark Forest and no chance to defend yerself." Since she whimpered even more, he dropped the aggressive tone and continued with a soft voice. "Ye nearly gave me a heart-attack back there."

The whole time Marianne had looked down at the ground. Now she raised her head and looked with tearful and apologetic eyes at him. "I'm really, really sorry Bog. I promise I won't do it again." 

With a deep sigh Bog deflated and mustered a smile. "A really hope ye will keep it this time." She sniffed with a nod and then he gently stroked a few tears away from her face. "A'm just glad nothing happened to ye."

Marianne sniffed a few more times before she held out her arms. Without hesitation Bog gathered her up in his arms again and she buried her face between his neck and shoulder, clinging fiercely at him again. 

"We should go home now, alright?" he asked her in calm voice and she nodded with an agreeing noise. Bog then turned to the other Goblins.

"Well, guys. Thanks for the company, but we have to go now."

"No problem BK." Stuff said and they all smiled, even when it had a worried edge for the Fairy princess to it.

"Will princess Marianne come to play with us again?" Korks asked hesitantly. At that question Bog looked down at Marianne, who still faced his shoulder and seemingly was too ashamed to say something. 

"Maybe not soon," he then answered. "But as soon as she is able to fly on her own A'm sure we can arrange that." The Goblins cheered at that and Marianne smiled thankfully up to him. Bog returned that smile and with a last nod to the group he flew up into the air in the direction of the castle.

Hidden in the bushes the Imp observed of the two young royals vanished from the scenery. It scrunched it's face and growled. Apparently it wasn't so happy about how things had turned out.

 

* * *

 

It was late afternoon when Bog and Marianne landed in front of the entrance to the castle. Soon she would have to pack her things and prepare for her departure. They hadn't spoken a word during the flight and Bog felt a bit bad about how angry he had reacted towards Marianne. But on the other hand he knew it was for her best, that she had to understand to listen to the things he told her. 

When they entered the castle Bog continued to walk very carefully, so that no one would hear them coming in. Unfortunately they've been expected.

"Back from yer little trip kids?"

The Goblin Prince winced and slowly turned around to face his father, who had leant with crossed arms against an alcove that hadn't been visible from the angle they had entered.

"Uh oh," Marianne murmured and Bog mentally agreed. Quickly he tried to came up with some believable excuse.

"Ah, yes. Little trip. A just flew a few rounds with Marianne around the castle. She knows the inside so good now, so A wanted to show how it looked from the outside a bit more."

But it was obvious that Cedar didn't buy this story. He quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really. And it took ye almost the whole day for just a few rounds? Ye're normally not that slow son."

With a forced grin Bog still tried to salvage the situation. "Maaaybe we took a few turns."

"Like deeper into the forest?" His father furrowed his brow and the growing anger was visible in his eyes. So Bog gave up the lie and nodded. Cedar grunted with a displeased tone and then addressed Marianne, while he still looked intense at Bog, who now looked down to the ground. "Marianne? Be a good girl and go to yer room. A'm sure the Fairies want to leave soon."

"But I-," she tried to object, but Cedar cut her off with a warning tone.

"Marianne!  _Please_ , go to yer room. _Now_." 

Even when she was now intimidated, Marianne still didn't want to go and leave Bog alone. However, her friend put her down and gave her a gently nudge into the direction of her room. In the end Marianne only went after Bog gave her a little smile.

As soon as she was put of sight, Cedar leant down to his son and growled angrily. "Just what the bloody hell were ye thinking, taking her out to the forest, all alone without telling anyone?"

Bog took a step back in surprise of having his father on the same eye level. Then he took in a deep breath and looked at him with a steady expression. "If I had told ye or mother, ye wouldn't have let us go."

"And with good reasons." Cedar straightened up again and pointed with a claw at Bog. "It's far too dangerous for ye to go on adventures outside alone, much less taking a flightless and defenseless little girl with ye!"

"It's not like we ventured out so far," he defended himself, his tone getting louder. His father had told him more than once, how he wasn't ready for dangers and he grew tired by the all the arguments they had by now. "We stayed close to the castle, A didn't take her anywhere dangerous and A always kept an eye on her." The young prince deliberately kept quiet about the incident at the stream. It would only support his father's point and it was an exception. At least he hoped so.

Cedar was not very convinced by Bog's precautions and just waved aside. "Ye can be as careful as ye want, but even in the safe places there can be dangers coming out of nowhere. Especially for young Goblins like ye are. So, stop arguing with me about this."

Now Bog was completely fed up by this.

" **No, ye stop!** " he shouted, making Cedar go rigid and looking surprised. Bog took in a deep breath and tried to calm down again. "Listen, A know that it's too dangerous for Marianne to go out, because she indeed _is_  a young kid and she needs protection. But A'm sick of it that ye still treat _me_ like A'm a little boy that need to be fussed over. In less than three years A will be come of age and ye should stop to try to wrap me up in cotton wool."

For a few seconds Cedar only stares at Bog, thrown by his accusations. But then he answer with slight anger. "Oh, A'm _so_ sorry that A just worry for yer safety Bog. Ye may talk big right now, but ye have no idea about what all could happen out there. Ye're not ready to face the dangers of the forest by yer own."

"And when will A be ready? Just out of nowhere when A'm old enough? Tell me father." Either it was unwillingness or his father simply had no answer for him. In any case, Cedar kept quiet and just glanced to the side, so Bog continued with an insistent tone. "A will be King some day and A _need_ to know how to protect me and others. What dangers are out there. And if ye would actually show and teach me, A would be much more prepared than to try it all by maself."

Silence filled the air again. Cedar still only starred to the sigh and Bog kept his own eyes on him, waiting for an answer. When his father looked back at him, his face was full of worry and uncertainty. He tried to say something, but it only came out as irritated sigh. Bog had to smile at that. "Seems A got the mother-henning from ye, father."

The Goblin King blinked surprised at those words and then had to chuckle. Nervously he grasped his scepter with both hands and looked at it „Ye know that there isn’t much that A can teach ye Bog. Ye already have a much better education than me.”

“Education yes. But no practice with it." That was true. Tytos had lectured him a lot about tactics and fighting techniques in theory, but so far Bog barely had the chance to actually test out those or even coming up with his own fighting style. He also never had practiced to fight with a weapon. "Come on, we both could learn so much from each other when we train together.” Then he crossed his arms and smirked. “Or are ye already too old for that?”

Cedar barked out a laugh at this. “Ha, not by a long shot. Besides, ye are never too old to learn, as Tytos would say.” The grip on his scepter relaxed and he started to swing it playfully between his fingers. He was in thoughts for a moment and when he made his decision, he smirked at his son. “Fine, have it yer way. Ye don’t want me to treat ye like a little kid anymore? Than prepare yerself to receive a severe drubbing, ma boy." 

At first Bog couldn't believe that his father actually agreed on sparring with him, but then a wide grin spread on his face and he pumped his fist into the air with elation. Cedar chuckled at that sight and when Bog had calmed down again, he smirked at him. “A will hold ye to that promise. And we will see who will receive that severe drubbing.”

His father only snorted amused and then waved him off. “Aye, we will. Now go to yer little Fairy and help her packing. A’m sure ye two want to say goodbye to each other.”

Bog nodded and was about to jog off, when Cedar called after him. “Oh, and Bog!” The prince stopped and turned around to look at the smug face of his father. “Ye may have brought yer point across, but ye still broke a rule. So no dinner for ye today and sweet-ban until Marianne visits us again.”

Restraining himself from saying anything about this - very damn bloody unfair - punishment, Bog nodded with grinding teeth. “Yes father.“ He then flied away, before his father could say anything else.

With a mix of pride and unease Cedar watched after him.

Pride of Bog's determination to be a good warrior and king.

Unease about what all could happen to his son, when he finally faced the ugly side of life. 

 

* * *

 

When Bog entered Marianne’s room he had expected to see her packing her belongings into her back. But instead he only looked into a dark, empty room.

At first he was worried that she had gone somewhere else, until he noticed the little ball of moss on the bed. The ball moved when he closed the door and the eyes of his Fairy friend peered out from under a moos blanket.

“Is your papa finished with being angry at you?” she asked. Bog chuckled and walked towards the bed.

“For now, yes.” Marianne smiled, but then it faltered.

“Are you still angry with me?”

After he had sat down Bog didn’t answer right away, but starred at the floor. When he looked back at Marianne he had a smile on his face and patted the moos covered head of her.

“Not anymore.” She mad a relieved sight and pulled the blanket completely over her head again. They were silent for a few moments, until Marianne broke the silence.

“I don’t want to go already,” she murmured in an unhappy tone.

Again, Bog chuckled at that. He had expected this and even when he shared that sentiment, he knew better than to strain their luck with the Fairy King's patience and tolerance.

“A know, but ye had a deal with yer father. Ye don’t want to make him angry and forbid ye to come again, aye?”

The moss blanket moved quickly, which indicated that she was shaking her head.

“Then ye should get going. A will help ye pack yer things,” he offered and gently pulled at the blanket, until Marianne threw it away by herself and jumped on her feet.

“I bet I can pack faster than you!” she challenged him and was already gathering her clothes. Bog blinked perplexed for a few seconds before he jumped up too.

“Hey, that’s not fair. Ye had a head-start,” he complained with a laugh. Instead of picking up any clothes, he grabbed for Marianne, who squeaked in joy and tried to escape. After a little tickle fight, they resumed with the challenged who could pack faster. Bog let Marianne win.

 

The Goodbye was actually harder than Bog had imagined. Marianne was clinging to him and ignoring the pleads from Captain Rosin to let go and go into the cart and he also had a very firm hold on her. After some coaxing from his father and later also Bog, they could convince her into letting go.

He stood at the entrance of the castle until the caravan wasn’t in sight anymore. Only then he went into his now quiet home again. With no dinner for him today.

 _What a wonderful way to end a day,_ Bog thought sarcastically, when he let himself fall face down on his bed. But he tried to stay positive and looked forward to the training with his father and the next time Marianne would visit them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that the other Goblins are older than Marianne, but younger than Bog. So I guess between 8 and 11 years old, with Stuff being the oldest.


End file.
